Reach for the Sky
by Crazygirl313
Summary: All Maya ever wanted was to find her sister, Sky, and live life in freedom away from the lab that created her.  But nothing is ever as simple as it seems. But when you reach for the sky, anything is possible.
1. Prologue: Running

**My first non-Invader Zim story. We'll see how it goes.**

**I do not own Maximum Ride, blah blah blah, why do I even have to say that?**

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**The branches kept getting caught in my thin dress, the one they make you wear at the labs. The fallen debris of the forest floor scratched at my bare feet. Pointy rocks seemed to be all over the ground, determined to be exactly were my foot lands. I was running so hard and for so long that the air burned my throat as I took in as much as possible. The wind tore at my hair and then whipped it back in my face. Small animals scurried away as I ran past them. I felt adrenalin rush through my veins and fear stab my chest. But none of that mattered right now. I had to keep running. I had to get away!

I look over at the little girl next to me. She was so young, but she could move better than me, faster. She was in her element, I wasn't. She's my little sister, and her DNA had been fused with that of a feline, some kind of cat. She was strong and agile, even graceful, as she ran.

But she kept in line with me, partially because she didn't know what else to do or where else to go, and partially because she couldn't go much faster. We were both running as hard as we could, but that might not be good enough. They were gaining on us.

I can hear them, breaking branches that got in their way, ones I had to climb over. They were strong and fierce, and showed no mercy. We had to get away! I had to get my sister away.

They are defiantly gaining on us. I can hear their growls and shouts. They can probably smell us with their giant wolf noses they can morph into. I look at my sister again. She is the only thing that keeps me running when all my energy is gone and when all hope seems to be lost, no matter how bad it seems. I couldn't let them take her back there.

The world was a constant stream of green and brown, mixed with fear and aching legs. My lungs felt like they were on fire, but anything was better than going back. It had taken years to find an opening in the security that would let me and my sister get away, and I couldn't let her down. My little sister deserved better than living her life in a cage. She deserved to taste freedom.

There had only been one other group of experiments that had ever escaped: some bird-human hybrids that the white-coats had made. They were some of the only successful experiments, and they had somehow escaped. If they could do it, so could I. And I could bring my sister.

I think I can see a break in the trees! Finally, no more branches to slow us down. Maybe a road, that we can follow to a town. Would the Erasers follow us into a populated area? Maybe, but it was worth a chance.

I burst out into the open. No, it's not a road, but a small section of open land before a cliff. That might not have been so bad if we had been at the top of the cliff, but instead we were at the bottom. Above me and my sister was a solid wall of red-orange rock stretching higher than the trees above us. There were no visible hand- or foot-holds. It went on like this to the left and right further than I could see.

The Erasers behind me are getting closer. I have to find a way to get to safety, I promised her I would. I can't let my sister down.

But maybe I can let her up. I grab her and thrust her up as far as I can. She grabs at the top of the cliff, but it was still too high up. I shift her weight so that she is standing on my hands, and with all the strength I have left, I lift my arms as high as they can go. She can just barely reach the top, and she grabs onto it and begins to haul herself up. I watch her make her way to the freedom of whatever lays on the top of that cliff.

Adrenalin courses through my veins as I listen to the Erasers. They were so close now, but at least my sister was safe. I jump as high as I can and reach toward the top of the cliff wall. She tries to grab my arms, but I didn't jump up enough. I hear her scream and know that they are right behind me now. The Erasers were here.

I jump again, my last chance to get to freedom, and she reaches down. Our hands brush against each other for a fraction of a second before I fall. I couldn't jump high enough.

Furry, clawed hands grabbed my wrists and began to drag me back. I can hear them laughing, and my sister screaming. One of the Erasers said something to another other about getting her. No! My sister had to get away.

"Maya!" I cried the name I had given her in a cage so many years ago. "Run!"

"Sky!" She called out the name she had given me and reached out a hand, as though she could reach me from the top of the cliff and pull me to safety.

"Run!" I yell again, and this time she did as I said. A furry hand clamped down hard on my mouth, and I tasted blood. I watched the form of my sister disappear above the cliff and let out a breath. She had gotten away. I had fulfilled my promise. At least she could be free.

More furry hands grabbed at me, and one of them raked their claws against my wings. I saw some light brown feather flutter to the ground, stained red with splatters of my blood. I could hear them laughing as the dragged me back to the lab. My legs dragged against the ground. The branches hurt more now that the adrenalin rush was over, and there seemed to be twice as many rocks. The Erasers held on me too hard; I would have bruises in the morning covering my arms, and scratches everywhere. But my sister had escaped, which was more than I should have been able to hope for. Even as I was dragged back toward the building I hoped I would never have to see again, I was content. Then one of the Erasers hit me on the top of the head and the world went black.

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**Well? What do you think? Was it an exciting prologue? Did you like it? Are you going to read the next chapter? Please tell me! Review!**


	2. Chapter 1: The Journey Begins

**I still don't own Maximum Ride. That hasn't changed in the last chapter.**

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**I looked up and down the street again. This was where the paper had said the other experiments had been. I was in New York City, by a restaurant that had gotten a lot of popularity since a bunch of flying kids had decided to leave through the roof. I looked around again. No one that matched their pictures was anywhere near here. I sighed. And why would they be? If they didn't want to be found by the scientists, then they would stay as far away from this place as possible. It was just that they might be the only lead I had to where my sister was.

It had been nearly three years since Sky had brought me to safety by letting herself be taken back to the lab. I still shuddered at the thought of being there, not knowing what painful experiments I would be subjected to next, never knowing if I would live another day. But Sky had made it better for me, and had allowed me to escape. Now I was alone.

When I had gotten to the top of the cliff all those years ago, I had made my way further and further away from the horrible labs that had made me. Sky had told me to run, so I ran as far away as I could. I finally made it to the other side of the continent and saw the ocean. By then it had been about a year since I had escaped, and I finally came out of the woods and into society. Then I had gotten some money from a broken ATM (what luck!) and bought some clothes. I preferred black t-shirts and slightly faded jeans.

Now I live in New York and walk among average people every day. I have black hair that I like to keep short and green-yellow eyes. When I show extreme emotion, such as anger or fear, they dilate like a cat's. I also do not have ears on the side of my head like a human. I have them at the top of my head and shaped like a cat's. They are triangular and furry. I have a tail that is slightly shorter than a cat's of my size, but only slightly. It is also covered in fur. My fur is black. My fingernails are really retractable claws. My facial features are slanted a little like a cat's. But, since I have cat DNA grafted into mine, it's really not that surprising.

I also have several characteristics similar to a feline's that don't affect my physical appearance. I can growl like a tiger when I'm angry. And I can probably purr. But I've never really been happy enough to make that sound, so I can only assume. I am pretty strong, quick, and nimble. And agile, with cat-like reflexes. Pun intended. I can leap high and land softly. I am an omnivore, but I prefer meat. However, do not expect me to catch and eat a raw mouse. Or cough up a hairball. Gross.

Oh yea, I almost forgot, I have a special ability, like the ones that seem to pop up in many of the surviving specimens. I can see people's auras. For those of you who don't know, an aura is kind of like a cloud that surrounds a person that shows their entire essence. Everything they truly are is shown there. Sometimes I can tell when people are lying because it sends ripples through their auras. Just by looking at someone, I can know more about them than they might even know themselves.

Anyway, I wear a black skier's hat to cover my ears (it's light weight so it's not too hot and I can still hear pretty well) and keep my tail in one of my pant legs. It sound's weird, but it's not as bad as you'd think. Plus I'd go with that over being caught. So far, I haven't been noticed by anyone who might be an Eraser or a white-coat. I just blend in.

But since I left the wild, I have been looking for Sky and a way to get to her. I have been living on my own for a while now, but I still need her. It was because of her that I was able to get away. Now I need to get her out of that mad house.

I looked over the crowd of people one more time and decided that there was no way the bird kids were in the crowd. They probably didn't even look like the pictures anymore. I know if I had gotten my picture taken without my hat on, I would do anything possible to change my look. I sighed for the second time in ten minutes. Hopefully I could spot them by their auras if I saw them. Experiments from the labs had a certain look about them that they never quite outgrew.

I walked back to the abandoned building I used as a home. It didn't cost me any of the little money I had and all I had to do was curl up in a corner and I could sleep. It was good enough. I went into a closet I liked because there were still some old rags in it I could use as a bed. I quietly laid down and curled in a little ball, my tail coming out and looping around my body. I closed my eyes and surrendered to sleep.

* * *

It was morning again. I could feel the warm sun that somehow was able to creep through the boarded up windows and under the door to the closet and onto my legs. It was morning, so I should get up.

I yawned and stretched, arching my back. Then I stood up and began smoothing my clothes. Then I readjusted my hat so it covered my ears better and opened the door. There was more sunlight in the room than in the closet and I had to hold up a hand to shield my eyes. Having night-vision was only a good thing at night. During the day, it was usually just annoying until my eyes adjusted to the light. I really should start only going out at night.

I ducked under the hole in the wall I used as a door. The real door was still boarded up and looked unstable, so I just use the hole. I am small so I can fit into smaller places easily.

Today I have to work. I was able to get a job working in a bakery a few times a week. It gives me enough money to buy new clothes and food. So I was okay with the just-above-minimum-wage salary.

Work was boring today. Nothing really happened. I just made some bread and some pastries and then manned the cash register for a while. Then I took my money and left.

As I walked home that night, I saw movement in one of the shadows. My abandoned building was in a pretty bad neighborhood that very few people lived in (one reason I liked it. No one to notice me) so the movement was something unusual. Curiosity got the better of me and I walked closer to it. Then I watched as a bunch of kids climbed out of a manhole. But as I looked closer, I realized that they were more than just kids. They had wings.

I almost jumped for joy. I had found the bird kids! They could tell me where the scientists were hiding Sky. But as I looked more carefully, I noticed that most of the kids weren't birds. There were many of them, some with fur, some with scales, one that had it's organs on the outside. It was horrible, but also good. If the bird kids were rescuing some of the other experiments, then they could help me find my sister.

It also made me confused. I had run away from the labs for a year until I reached the ocean and couldn't go any further. And I know I went in a straight line. How could the lab here?

Unless it was another one.

I don't know which was worse: thinking I had gotten away from the lab when I was really sleeping on top of it, or now knowing that there were two of them.

Either way, I needed the help of the bird kids.

So, I did something completely mad: I took off my hat and let my tail loose and walked over to the group.

When they saw me, they stiffened. The dark older one stepped forward to say something, but stopped when he say my ears. I flicked my tail around. The hard look on his face softened.

"I need help." I said.

"With what?" He asked.

I knew I probably didn't have much time by the way they kept looking back at the manhole. "My sister helped me escape from a lab a few years back, but she was brought back to it. I need to find her, but I don't know where the lab is. All I know is that it's somewhere west of here."

The dark bird boy nodded. "She's probably being held in a place called the School, and it's California, in Death Valley right above Badwater Basin. Can you look that up on a map?" He glanced nervously at the manhole.

"Yea." I said. California, Death Valley, Badwater Basin. What an ironic name. I put my hat back on and hurried away before he could say anything else.

I had a map in my pocket, but it was only of New York City, so I quickly bought another one at a stand nearby. One of the great things about this city: it never slept. There was always someone at the stores and still tons of vendors and people about no matter what time it was.

I looked over the map. I was about as far away from California as possible without leaving the country. Now I had to get go back there. I took a pen and marked where I was now and where Death Valley in California was, so I could keep track of where I went as I went.

Sudden fear knifed its way into my gut. I was going back to the place my nightmares originated from. Where I had been treated like an animal and stuffed into a cage and used like a lab rat. But I would still be there if it weren't for Sky, so I have to go back. I ran back to my home.

I don't own very many things. Just some clothes, a hair brush, and some other bare necessities I could put in a small backpack. Once that was packed, I went to a corner of the room that had some floor boards that were loose. There was a creaky old table shoved in the corner on top of them. It took me only a few seconds to push the table away and pull up some boards. Then I stuck my hand in the hole underneath. It was damp and more than a little moldy, but I was able to find the waterproof box I had stored down there for the two years I've been living here. Inside was all the money I had been able to save up. It would have to last me to California and back. I rolled up the bills and put them in a wallet and stuffed the wallet into my backpack. Then I put the box back in the hole and the floor boards back on top and the table on top of them. Everything looked as it had before I had taken this place as my own. Now I was going to leave it, maybe forever.

I looked around one more time at the place I had called home for so long. Then I crawled out the hole in the wall and walked out into the night.

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**Chapter one is up! Yea! Please tell me how you feel about it. And I would just like to say that I have a little sister, and I would do just about anything to get her out of the School if we were stuck there. And I'm pretty sure she would come looking for me afterwards. So, it is realistic. **

**Please review! Pretty please! I'll give you a cookie. *_Waves a cookie in your face*_**


	3. Chapter 2: Warning  Danger Ahead

**Chapter two is now up. I would just like to ask anyone who is reading this to check out some of my other stories, especially is you like Invader Zim. I have one story that got, like, seventy people who read it and one review. So I would like some reviews.**

**I just want to say thanks to i heart manga 89 because they helped me get some of the characters your'll meet for a few seconds in this chapter, but they come in more in the next one. So, thanks! You're a life saver!**

**Maximum Ride is an awesome book that is owned by James Patterson, A.K.A. not me.**

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**I stare out the window again through the bars in my cage. I am lucky that the scientists put me in a room with a window. Without it, I don't know how I would be able to find the will to survive another day here. Before it used to me my sister who kept me going. But she escaped. I didn't.

I think of things to keep myself busy and to keep my mind off of the other experiments in the room. It also helps me ignore the pain I always feel now.

Ok, lets see here, think of simple things. I am part bird. I am also part human. I have wings. I don't know how old I am. I have a little sister. Her name is Maya. I helped her escape. She got away from here. My name is... is... oh, what was it? I can't remember anymore. Maya gave it to me. I thought it was really pretty. It was... a color? No, something else, but close to that. I think. What was it? I don't remember. It's been too long since anyone has called me by my name. Now they just call me specimen 17.

The door is opening. A white coat walks in. It's a male one, and he has an Eraser next to him. I shudder and squirm further back in my dog crate. I can see the scientist's legs stop in front of my cage. No! I don't want to do any more experiments today! He's opening the latch. I don't want to! Please don't make me! I'm so tired!

He grabs my arm and pulls me out. The Eraser pushes me forward. I stumble ahead and they lead down a hall. I don't want to do anything else today. I just want to sleep!

They push me into a room. I'm scared. What are they going to do this time? Someone else walks in. They hold a small cup up to my face and make me drink it. It tastes really bad, but I can't spit it out. Then they only hurt me to make me drink it. It hurts! What was that? It burns my throat!

The other person holds a device up to my arm. I feel a prick as they take blood. Then they have me start running. I don't want to run. So they call back the Eraser. He begins to chase me around the room. He's laughing. My legs hurt, but I keep running. It will hurt more if he catches me.

Finally, my legs give out.

I fall to the ground. Why can't they just leave me alone? The scientist says something to someone else. I can't hear it. I just lay on the cool floor and wonder what Maya is doing now.

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I woke up and looked around. I had slept the entire day. It's night now. From my position near the top of the tree I can see around for miles. The forest stretches on and on.

I quickly jump from branch to branch down the tree until I touch the ground. My backpack is still on my back, but I had taken off my hat and let loose my tail. There was no one around to see me now, so why bother?

But that didn't mean I didn't have to me quiet. You never know what might be lurking the woods.

I had been traveling for ages now. I lost track of time a while ago. But it took me nearly a year to get away from the lab, so I have to assume it will take me a while to get back. Sure, I can pass through towns and take a bus, but I have limited money, and walking or running suits me nicely.

But now I was hungry again, so off to the nearest town it was.

It turns out it was pretty close. A quick look at my map (I picked a new one up every state I entered. I still have my whole country map, though. But it's not that useful for finding towns.) showed me that there was one just a few miles north.

It is a small town. There really wasn't very much to look at or to do. But there was a diner. So I went there.

The diner was pretty empty. One of the waitresses walked up to me.

"Do you know what you want to get?" She asked, glancing up at me from her clipboard.

"Um, yea." I said. My voice was a little croaked because I hadn't talked to anyone for a few days. "Can I have the full rack of ribs, the house stir loin, and some waffles to go? And the lobster dish for now."

I smiled the most convincing smile I could. The waitress looked at me strangely and then shrugged. Just so you know, I am not going to eat all that in one serving. This diner is the only one close by and I want enough food so I can disappear for a days before coming to another town.

The waitress, who's name tag said she was Lauren, turned to leave. "By the way, cute cat ears."

Cat ears? I reached my hands up to the top of my head. Oh no. I hadn't put my hat back on. I grabbed it out of my backpack, hoping no one noticed my panicked movements. Once my ears were covered, I surveyed the room. Mr. Tall, dark, and beautiful in the corner was grinning at me. He turned to some of his friends at the table. I twitched my ears (under my hat) toward the sound.

"I think it's the cat hybrid that was lost a few years back." The first one said in a voice that sounded like it came from an angel. I could feel the blood drain from my face.

"It looks like it." One of the others replied. "We should check it out."

'It.' I was an 'it' again.

"Wait until it leaves the building. We can call for back-up now." The first one said. I took a chance and glanced over at their table. They were gorgeous: they looked like they had stepped out of a men's fashion magazine. But there was no mistaking the blood in their auras.

Erasers.

I scanned the building for exits and escape routs, trying not to look too obvious. There was the kitchen, (that usually has an exit, right?) the front door, and a side door that was for emergencies only. The Erasers were next to the front door and the side door was about as far away from me as possible. I needed to get out of here _now_, and it looked like my rout was the kitchen. The good news was that I might be able to grab some food on the way out.

Yea, that's right. I'm being faced with death or worse and all I can think of is my stomach. Well you try living off only what you can find in the woods for a few days and see how willing you are to give up the only diner for the next hundred miles or so. Ok, maybe not _one hundred_ miles, but a lot.

So, I took another sip of my water as casually as possible and then jumped up with speed a human shouldn't be able to do and dived at the kitchen door. And as soon as I had moved the Erasers jumped up and ran after me.

The kitchen was not very big and I had to keep dodging chefs with knives and hot stoves. The good part was that the Erasers also had to dodge them and I am much smaller than they are, so I can get through easier. I heard the anguished almost-roar and then the smell of charred flesh that told me that one of them got burned on a stove.

I jumped over a table and grabbed a tray of food. Whoever's it was was better off than me right now and could stand to wait to get their food a little longer.

I burst out of the unloading door in the back of the kitchen before the Erasers did and ran in the direction of the trees. Some cover would be nice. I could hear them chasing behind me, their shouts turning more animal as they morphed.

_The ground hurts my feet. I wish I was wearing shoes like the white coats do. But I have to keep running. If the Erasers catch me they'll hurt me again. And Sky promised she'd get me out of there. But I have to keep running with her. She'll make everything alright. Then we can live by ourselves without people hurting us all the time. _

I shook off the memories. If I'm thinking of that, I'll trip over something and then they'll catch me. Just gotta keep running.

I noticed some trees with limbs closer to the ground. Finally, some luck! I grabbed a branch as I ran under it and swung myself up. Then I kept running, going from branch to branch, climbing steadily higher, hoping that the cover of the leaves might block the Erasers view of me.

There was a snap from behind and I heard an Eraser go _thump!_ as he hit the ground. So he had tried to follow me up the tree and one of the smaller branched had broken under his weight. But I could still hear the other ones underneath me.

I jump onto a higher branch. This is a good tree; there are a lot of leaves between me and the ground, and now that I am so high up there is no way the Erasers can see me. So I stop running suddenly and sit perfectly still with my back against the trunk. I grab a stick and throw it in the direction I had been running a few seconds ago. The Erasers would hear the sound and think it's me and keep running. Hopefully.

Ever notice how much of my life is spent hoping now?

The noises below me quieted as they moved further away from me. I held my breath and waited. Thirty seconds passed. A minute. A minute and thirty seconds. Maybe they were gone now.

"Here kitty!" An musically beautiful voice called out from directly below me. "Here kitty, kitty! The big bad wolf is here to bring you back to the pound!"

My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest, it was pounding so hard. I had hoped (see? there's that hope again) to never hear an Eraser's voice again.

"Here kitty! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Everything in my head told me to run. Get away. As fast as possible. _Now_! But I was frozen with fear. I couldn't move now if my life depended on it. Hey, it did depend on it. Maybe that was a bad choice of words...

"Boo."

The voice was so close to me I screamed and jumped. Then I took off in the opposite direction. Eraser! Right next to me! Without me knowing! Possible? Apparently.

I bounded over the branches, but something kept bothering me. How could the Eraser have crept up on me so fast? There was no way! I would have heard him climbing up.

So, being the curious creature I am, I took a second to look over my shoulder at the Eraser who was now chasing behind me. And I got the shock of my short life.

Wings.

He had wings.

Part human, part wolf, part bird?

So, now I had Erasers below me, Erasers behind me, and probably Erasers above me.

I was doomed.

* * *

I curled up into a ball in my little dog crate. Through the bars I could see the white coat come back in holding another crate. It was much smaller than mine, only about a foot and a half long. I had trouble seeing what was inside.

The white coat threw the cage onto the table that was in the room. I heard the creature whimper. The white coat left.

I crawled up to the front of my crate and put my hands on the bars. I still couldn't see what was in the cage, but it was trembling. The door opened again and I jumped back to the back of my cage.

But it wasn't for me. They were putting another dog crate into the room. This one was big enough to fit a child around my age in. Maybe younger. It's hard to tell how old someone is by looking at their cage.

I can hear growls from it, and the whimpering from the smaller cage.

The white coat was talking to another one.

"These two are from one of the Japanese labs," he said. I didn't hear the rest.

The exhaustion hit me like a truck.

I am so tired...

The growls from the cage almost sound like words...

So tired...

I should say something...

Tired...

I'll just... sleep for a ... little while... then I'll... do... something...

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Don't move. Don't think about moving. Don't even breath.

The Erasers are everywhere. They are searching the forest for me.

I didn't move in my tiny hiding place. If I did, they would find me.

I had found a small fox hole in a small cluster of trees. I hoped that the Erasers wouldn't find me here. So far, so good. Except for the fact that my nose itches and my leg fell asleep fifteen minutes ago. And the Erasers aren't showing any signs of letting up the search.

_They're going to starve me out._ The thought popped into my head and although I tried to deny it, I knew it was probably true. If they set up a base here and keep watch all the time, then I won't be able to escape unnoticed.

My ears prickled at a new sound. It went kind of like_ whooh whooh whooh._ I've heard it before. And it could only mean something bad.

The wind picked up as the helicopter landed in a clearing the woods not too far away. I didn't dare move.

The sound died down and so did the wind when the chopper landed.

There were sounds of people's footsteps. _Reinforcements, _I thought, terrified.

I could just barely see through some leaves at some of the Erasers still looking for me. Another person walked into the view. A real person, not some mutant wolf beast, a human.

The human turned around and scanned the area. Then he (it looked like a boy) turned back so he was facing away from me.

"Please come out," He said kindly. "Believe it or not, we only want to help. I can help you find your sister."

I stopped breathing. He wasn't human, he was a white coat. A monster. A lier.

"I'm not going to hurt you, really." He sounded so sincere.

I felt my hand wrap around a fist-sized rock.

"You have to trust me!" He cried.

The rock sailed through the air and hit the white coat on the back of the head so hard he crumpled to the ground. Some of the Erasers stopped to help him up, and the rest of them turned in my directon. But I was already up and running again.

At least one good thing happened today: I got to hit a scientist in the head with a rock.

* * *

I looked back behind me. There wasn't anyone following. I pulled off my hat and listened. The only footsteps were my own. I still didn't slow down.

It could be a trick. But it sure seemed like I had finally ditched them.

A little while back I had taken a detour over a cliff edge. The bulky Erasers had trouble following and the flying ones couldn't land anywhere.

So maybe I had really lost them.

A heavy paw clipped my shoulder.

Or maybe I didn't.

The Eraser jumped down from the branch he had been sitting on.

"Hey there, little kitty cat." He said with the musical voice of an angel. "Let's go play."

I spun around fast, but he was faster. He grabbed my hair and yanked me backwards. I tumbled and hit his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed. I couldn't breath. So I played dirty. One good stomp to his toes and I was free.

Erasers recover fast, though. He snarled and jumped back at me. I dodged and extended my claws. Then I raked them across the Eraser's arm. He growled and jumped at me again. I gave him a good kick to the nose.

He laughed.

Defiantly doomed.

He launched again. This time he made contact with my body. We both flew back into a tree.

"Kitty's gotta go back to the labs now," He snarled in her ear.

No.

Never.

_Never._

I gave him the best kick I had in me. He stumbled back half a step. But that was all I needed to get him off of me.

I grabbed one of the branched above my head and swung myself up. He tried to follow. I nimbly jumped higher and higher into the branches.

The Eraser growled. I hissed at him.

Hmm... hissing. That's new.

He jumped onto a higher branch. So did I.

Finally, he hauled himself onto a branch that was to small to hold him and he crashed back to the ground. He hit the dirt with a thud and I thought I heard some cracks. He had been really high up.

He didn't move.

I jumped down. Then I ran some more. I ran and ran. There was no sound of a chase, but you could never be sure. I ran straight through the rest of the day and well into the night. I ran until I almost collapsed. But I couldn't be caught.

I found a hollow log and curled up in it. My arm shoulder hurt, and my back hurt, and I was starving. However, I had lost the tray of food. So I just laid down and closed my eyes. Sleep hit me almost immediately.

* * *

The sign read 'Welcome to California'. I was almost there.

But there was another sign next to it that read, 'Caution: Danger Ahead'

It probably meant construction or wild animals or something.

But it was also a warning to me.

The place of my worst nightmares lay ahead. Did I still want to go?

No.

Was I going to?

Yes.

For my sister.

* * *

**I'm really sorry if it gets confusing with the switching between character's perspectives. But I really needed to show you life in the School, even for a little while.**

**Now, I want to say that last chapter is probably going to be the only time the flock shows up in this story. It's not about them, it's about the others who escaped. Anyway, the story of Maximum Ride is getting a little confusing for me. Of course, that could be because I read all the books a while ago, then read the first one over again, then read Fang. Now it's all jumbled up in my mind, so if any advents are a little off, please don't blame me. I am rereading the entire series right now, but I have to keep updating, so, yea. **

**Please, please, please review. This is my first story about something other than IZ, so I need to know how I'm doing.**


	4. Chapter 3: School's Out  Hopefully

**I am back! Yea! And I have brought another chapter! **

**i heart manga 89 gave me the ideas of Yori and Koro. So thx! I cannot thank you enough! However, this is probably going to be the last chapter I say it. **

**Maya, Sky, and Jaws were my ideas.**

**I could never have come up with a book series as amazingly awesome as Maximum Ride, therefor, it is not mine. I don't own it.**

**

* * *

**The School. The place where children are forced to undergo painful and many times deadly experimentation. The place where I was created. The place where Sky was.

Sky. My sister. I remember giving her her name. The experiments who could talk and who had been outside or had windows in their rooms spread rumors that there was a sky outside that was a beautiful shade of blue on cloudless days. Sky has bright blue eyes, so I named her after the sky. It was what lay outside.

I would get her out of there.

I just don't know how.

Yes, I am that stupid. I have traveled across the continent, lived in the woods, was chased by mutant wolf-human hybrids who want me dead, all to go to the place of my most undying hate, without a plan. Yea, that's me.

So, I need to come up with a plan of attack and not get caught in the process.

Any ideas?

Anyone?

Please?

Yea, didn't think so.

So, I stop at the small strip mall nearby for a while. There is no food place there ( D: ) except for the gas station, so that's where I was headed. Just grab a few bags of chips and peanuts and be on my way.

Yea, not as simple as you would think.

Because apparently I looked 'suspicious' to the guy behind the counter, with my messy hair, blood stained shirt, torn jeans, and black hat. And he called the cops. Jerk.

So I end up running out of the store with my arms full of snacks into the woods again. By the way, I would have payed for them. But now I am _so_ not.

That guy can work at a gas station for the rest of his life for all I care.

Now, back to the police. Guess who some of them were? I'll give you a hint: they weren't human but they start with an E and like to kill things.

Don't you have to have a background check to become a cop? How did Erasers pass the exam?

I sat in the top of a tree quietly and waited out the search. Then I stored the snacks in a hollow section in the tree trunk. Now it was time to think of a plan.

Ok, I could try to sneak in at night when there are less people around and unlock the cage. Or maybe set off the fire alarm. They had to have a fire alarm, right? Ok, maybe not. I could disguise myself as a scientist. Or grab one on them on their way to work and then leave an anonymous phone call saying that if they didn't hand over the bird-girl, I would through the scientist off a cliff. Yea, I can see that blowing up in my face. I could get a machine gun and... yea no. The sewers, the air vents, get a Megadoomer, (I love Invader Zim!) and destroy the place...

In the end, I just decided to go with the air vents.

* * *

It was dark in the room. My wing hurt. The sky outside my little window was black. It was night.

I huddled in my cage. The room didn't have all that many experiments in it, but the sounds of whimpering and crying could be heard.

It was cold. I was so cold. I shivered and curled a little bit more into a ball.

The door opened. A person walked in and turned on the light. There were a few moans.

"Alright, I just need to do some test on you, then I can go back to sleep," The female scientist said, mostly to herself. There was a sudden series of creaks and she looked up.

"What the-" she began, but then one of the ventilation shafts fell down on her. A small girl crawled out. She looked at the whitecoat. Unconscious.

The girl scanned the room and her face brightened when she spotted my cage. It was hard to see, but she seemed familiar somehow.

"Sky!" She whispered.

I perked up. I knew that voice. Maya. Maya was here! Was that good or bad? She called me Sky. That's what my name is.

I scurried to the door of my dog crate. She undid the latch. And I was out. I grabbed her and hugged her. It felt so nice to be close to my sister again. She was bigger than I remembered her. It dawned on me that I really wasn't that much older than her.

"We have to go," She said, already looking for escape routs. The window was way to small and the air vent was toast. Maya looked around the room some more.

"What about us?"

The voice startled me, and made Maya jump. She turned to the other two cages in the room and unlatched them. A boy about her age came out of the bigger one and a small cat came out of the smaller. The boy had brown hair that was pretty long and two cat-like ears that were a slightly lighter color and had black tips. He also had bright green eyes that looked almost mischievous. The smaller cat was completely black. I would have thought she was a normal cat except for the bat wings attached to her back. She stayed close to the boy.

"We have to get out of here," Maya said. She grabbed my arm with one hand the boy's arm with the other hand and began towing us toward the door. After that, we ran.

* * *

I looked over at my sister, Sky. It was so nice to see her again. The boy and the cat/bat thing were following us. Now, you are probably thinking that I have the entire map of the building memorized and know every escape rout by heart. Um, I'm still the girl who came here without a plan, remember? I was going to just crawl back through the air ducts with Sky and escape that way. But they were kind of destroyed, so that plan just got flushed down the toilet.

So basically we were a bunch of escaped lab rats trying to get away by running through the building and looking for doors.

As you can see, I'm not really very good at making plans...

That's when a baby Eraser jumped at us.

You heard me: baby Eraser.

He looked like a cross between a two year old and a puppy!

We all stopped at stared for a moment.

"I'm gonna tear you apart!" He shouted. But the threat was kind of lost with his lack of size and, well, ability to be threatening. He growled at us.

"Oh my gosh!" I said, unable to stop myself. "He's so cute!"

Sky nodded in agreement and the boy looked at us like we was nuts.

"I'm not cute!" The Eraser snarled. It had the effect of a puppy trying to be tough. In other words, completely adorable. "I'm a big bad Eraser! And I'm gonna tell the big guys about you! And then we're gonna-"

I stopped listening. His voice was like that of a toddler! However, I knew a threat when I heard it, and even if this guy couldn't hurt us, the 'big guys' could.

"Grab him." I said to Sky. She nodded and grabbed one of his arms. I grabbed the other one. And we all continued to run, with a baby Eraser snarling threats and dangling between us.

And he kept yelling. He would give us away!

I looked over at Sky again. "Keep him quiet!"

She put the hand that wasn't holding his arm over his mouth and his threats were muffled. Only a few seconds later, though, and she pulled her hand away again.

"Ouch! He bit me!"

I could see the little bite marks on her hand. They weren't deep, but they had drawn blood. So the puppy boy had sharp teeth. If we make it out of here alive, I have to note that.

He snapped at my hand.

"Watch it, Jaws." I said. He growled

Sirens began to blare. Great. So much for a clean get-away.

The only good thing that seemed to happen was that most of the people here were either asleep or wouldn't be back until morning, so there weren't that many whitecoats around. Erasers, um, there were a lot more of them.

We found a door and ran out. The baby one was droning on about how we were going to be lunch meat, and I was afraid he might be right. Then Erasers streamed out of the building after us.

I won't bore you with all the detail of how we ran through the woods for what seemed an eternity before camping out in a small sewer pipe. Yes, we hid, all night, in the sewers. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Basically we just sat there taking turns keeping the baby Eraser quiet.

The good thing is that even though we look like, well, genetically mutated freaks and smelled like pigs, we were out of the School.

One point to the mutants.

* * *

A day later everyone was still too afraid to get out of the pipe, so I ended up going back to my tree-top hiding hole to get the snacks and my backpack. That didn't last us very long. So by the end of the day, we were traveling through the woods back towards New York.

At first it was pretty quiet, but then everyone began to talk and ask questions. We were all curious about who we were now traveling with.

It turns out that the boy's name is Koro. He is part lynx, which explains the ears. He had been originally made at the School, but had been shipped off to Japan for most of his life. There he met Yori, the cat/bat. She used to be human, but they had grafted cat DNA into her, thinking it would allow her to morph like an Eraser. However, she morphed once, and couldn't get back to her human shape. She can speak English and Japanese, and she can talk to cats. If she tries, she can grow to the size of a panther, but she can't keep that form for long.

Koro knew Yori before she had been turned into a cat, and they were really close. Like, almost siblings.

Sky and I explained how I had escaped and how we were sisters.

Jaws kept threatening us for some time, then he seemed to give up and just shut down. You are probably wondering why we kept him with us. We're keeping him because if we let him go, he will run all the way back to the lab and tell everyone where we are and then they will bring an armed force of Erasers after us. So, he stays, at least for now.

There are probably some people reading this who are wondering why don't we just kill him? First, may I just say that you are a very mean person for thinking that, and second, he is still very cute. Imagine a toddler, and fuse it with a puppy. He's adorable.

I decided we should probably go back to New York City. It's really far away from here, there are huge crowds to get lost in, I know my way around, some of us can get jobs and stuff, and I already have a place to stay there. We should be able to get there in, oh, maybe a year or so?

There has to be a better way to travel.

It turns out that there is.

So, we were passing through a town not that far from the School, and there was a supermarket. I figured we would need some more food, so we stopped there. And guess who we saw entering the building? A white coat. Of corce, she wasn't wearing her coat, but Sky recognized her. And we saw her car in the parking lot.

You can probably guess what we were thinking.

Pay back time.

I was able to get into the car by prying up the hood and disabling the alarm. I saw someone do it on TV once. Then I broke the window. Then it was simple to reach inside and unlock the door. We brushed off the seats and sat down. Now there is only one little problem. None of us know how to drive...

Once again, no plan. I really have to get better at this.

We were all kind of analyzing the controls of the car and trying to figure out if we could turn it on without the keys and which of us looked old enough to drive and such. Then there was always the problem of what if the whitecoat comes out of the store and sees us with her car?

It was Koro who solved all of the problems at once.

Koro put his hand on the wheel and closed his eyes. The rest of us were all like 'COME ON! THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE NAPPING!' and stuff, but he wasn't listening. When he finally opened his eyes again, he walked over to the hood of the car and began hot wiring it (I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you how he did it. That would be illegal, and the last thing we all need right now is to be chased by the government as well as scientists and Erasers.). Then he sat down in the drivers seat and told us to get in.

And we were like 'what?'

It turns out that he had an ability, too. And he had just found it. When he touched something, he can feel how it works. So he could tell what wires to move to make the car start and which pedal does what (why are there three? I always thought there were only two pedals, one for the break and one for the gas! What does the third pedal do?) and everything he need to know to drive.

Very helpful.

So we can now drive away in a stolen car. Another point to the mutants!

* * *

Even driving takes days, and after a while we had to ditch the car. For several reasons.

1) The scientist we stole it from is going to be really angry and let the police know someone stole her car, so if we're on the street with a car that matches the description she gives and has her licence plate, well, you can imagine. And it's not like we can just rip off the licence plate. That would also get the cops after up.

2) We stopped for gas and saw the bill.

I don't have all that much money left.

So we were walking again.

Because nothing can ever be easy for long.

And the baby Eraser still wouldn't do anything except mutter a few threats every so often and complain that he was hungry.

"Can't I just eat the rest of the food now?" He complained.

"No, we have to save it." I explained, again. "We don't have much money."

"They fed me better back at the School." He grumbled. "By the way, they will find you, and drag you back there and-"

"Just give it a rest, Jaws," Yori snapped. She had the least amount of patients with him. Probably because she was a cat and was kind of a dog and she really didn't like dogs.

"Quit calling me Jaws!" The Eraser said. After I had given him the nickname back when we were escaping the School, everyone had come to calling him it. And he didn't like it.

"Alright then," I said. "What was your name back at the School?"

He gave me a blank look.

"You know, your name." Sky jumped in. "What did they used to call you?"

"09-27-10." He said.

The rest of us looked at each other. Koro looked back at him. "You're better off just keeping Jaws."

I looked over our little pack again. Koro had gotten a bright red hoodie at the store and put up the hood to hide his ears. Sky had gotten a coat to hide her wings. I had gotten some new clothes to replace the shredded and bloodstained ones. We looked pretty normal.

I noticed Sky looking over the newspaper again. I had saved the newspaper article about the other bird kids and showed it to her. Ever since, she had been acting a little... off beat. I walked over.

"What's up?" I asked, looking over her shoulder. The part of the article she had been reading was unfolded in front of her. The newspaper people had interviewed an expert of some sort and he had told about how the flying kids were probably not really flying. This is because humans are not built to fly. Even if they had wings, they wouldn't be able to.

I looked away. Ouch. Thinking back, I had never actually seen the bird kids fly. The one time I saw them they had been on the ground and crawling out of a sewer. And that one I saw didn't look at all like anyone in the picture. I realized what was going through my sister's head. We had all been fused with some animal, but at least we could use what was given to us. She couldn't. Because she couldn't fly.

I made a mental note to discreetly 'lose' the paper as soon as possible.

Oh well. We needed to leave now anyway. We had to keep going back to New York.

* * *

**Yea! I completed another chapter! :) By the way, including this story, I have three stories I am working on, so if I don't update often, sorry.**

**Please review! And tell your friends about this story! I have, like, two fans! **


	5. Chapter 4: Home again, Home again

**Hi**

**I'm back.**

**But I guess you know that already. **

**If there are any problems in the story that have to do with the time frame, please ignore them. I'm not perfect. :(**

**I do not own Maximum Ride. You would have to be insane to think I did, since I said I didn't in the past, well, EVERY chapter. **

**

* * *

**I don't know how long it's been since I left my cozy little abandoned building in New York. Months? It's so hard to keep track.

Anyway, it's night time right now and me and my little pack have just arrived in New York City. Home again, home again.

So we were now trekking through the city, at night. Everyone was looking around wide-eyed at all of the lights. We passed through Times Square and I think Sky's heart almost stopped. Soon we were out of the lights and into the dark, deserted neighborhood that my little abandoned building/home was located.

I'm pretty small compared to most humans, so Jaws and I were the only two who could actually fit through the hole in the wall. So we all ended up kicking it to make it larger and then clearing away the plaster.

The place was exactly like I left it: a mess. Broken and boarded up windows and door, very little carpeting, dust everywhere, broken plaster everywhere, and a few measly pieces of furniture that didn't look like they could hold a cup of water without collapsing.

Home Sweet Abandoned Building.

I walked over to my closet to grab the few rags it had in it. I would take them out and put them on the ground, like a bed, until I could gain back enough money to buy a rug of some sort. There was no way all five of us were going to fit into the little closet.

But when I opened the door, I almost had a heart attack.

Because on my bed of rags were two identical young girls, curled protectively around each other, sleeping. They looked up tiredly when the door opened. But that really wasn't what got me.

They had fox ears.

And tails.

And white dresses that the scientists make you wear.

Noticing my sudden stopping, my pack (I kind of started calling us that) crowded around me and looked in.

The fox-girls' eyes had gone big and they were pressing themselves back further into the closet, but because it was a small one, they really didn't have very far they could go.

I quickly realized what was wrong and took off my hat. They stared at my black cat ears for a few seconds, confused. I flicked my tail.

Sky saw what I was doing and let out her wings. Koro took off his hat and twitched his ears. The fox-girls relaxed. I smiled at them. They smiled back, just small, shallow smiles, but still.

Yori walked between me and Sky and looked over the fox-girls.

"Hi," she said. "Can you talk?"

Both girls looked startled, but then again, it _was _a talking cat. With wings. Then the girls nodded.

"Hi," They both said quietly, at the same time.

"I'm Maya," I said. "And this is my sister Sky. He is Koro, this is Yori, and the little Eraser over there is Jaws. Don't worry, he won't eat you."

The girl on the left looked at Jaws.

"He's so cute," She whispered. The other girl poked her head around the door to look.

"I'm not cute." Jaws grumbled, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. We had been teasing him about being cute since the dramatic escape from the School.

After some coaxing, both girls came out of the closet and began wolfing down the food we had with us. I set up the, well, I guess I can't call it a bed. It's more just like a pile of old rags and blankets I found and stashed away for cold nights and now threw into a pile of the floor for everyone to sleep on. We were all pretty exhausted, so everyone was fine with curling up on a pile of rags. Then we all fell asleep in, like, three seconds flat.

* * *

Morning came and Sky went out to find come clothes for the two fox-girls and I went out to find some sort of job. Koro insisted on coming with me and finding one as well.

I found my old bakery, but someone had already replaced me. Koro found a 'Help Wanted' sign in front of an Apple store (Apple as in the company, not the fruit) and left to check it out. I figured that I should try to find a clothing store or a food store and just rake in those employee discounts. We could use them.

However, the universe hates me, so there were no more little signs showing me where I could get a good paying job. And no openings anywhere. Trust me, I practically searched the entire city.

In the end, I just got the Apple Store job with Koro. We have different shifts. I can only hope that he doesn't start begging for an iPad or something. Because you all know that the one thing a bunch of recombinant children-animal experiments on the run need is an iPad.

"You think I can get an iPhone?" Koro asked on the way back to our home.

See? This is exactly what I was talking about 2.7 seconds ago.

"No." I answered him.

"Why not?"

"'Cuz they're expensive and we don't need it." I said. "Plus someone could track it. And who are you gonna call?"

"Ghost Busters!" Some random kid across the street shouted.

Koro didn't push it anymore but he had that look on his face that told me this conversation wasn't over.

We reached the building and crawled inside. Sky was back and the fox-girls were wearing new clothes and hats and looking at each other. I leaned against one of the walls and watched them for a little while as they ran to the closet to try something else on. A few seconds later, they reappeared wearing little skirts and pink hoodies.

"Hey," I said. They turned to me. "What are your names?"

They looked back at each other for a second, and the one on the right mumbled something even my expert cat-ears couldn't pick up.

"Could you repeat that?" Yori asked.

"We don't have any," The girl said quietly.

"We can fix that," Koro said. The girls' faces brightened.

Sky walked over to one. "You look kind of like a Mimi," she said.

The girl smiled. "I like that name."

The other one piped up. "Then I'll be Kiki," she said.

I moaned silently to myself. Two identical twins named Mimi and Kiki. I could see how confusing that would get. But the girls looked so happy... and I really didn't want to be the bad guy. So, I guess the names were going to stick.

* * *

A few weeks went by with the seven of us.

Mimi and Kiki, it turns out, really are identical twins. They can communicate with each other telepathically, and do it so much, that they always know what the other is thinking and feeling. They are practically one person. After a few days of confusion and calling them by the wrong names, I bought them both necklaces with their first initials on them in rhinestones. Then I made them wear it every day. It's now just a little less confusing, but everyone still sometimes gets their names wrong every so often.

Jaws didn't complain for a while, and he just kind of stayed out of everybody's way. When I talked to him, he said that we were nicer to him than the scientists, and he was afraid we would kick him out. He had no where else to go.

The weird thing was that he didn't seem to be growing much. Instead of two, he now looked more around ten, but most Erasers grew to twenty in a few weeks. My best guess is that he was some kind of experimental one that would have a longer lifespan, but didn't grow up as fast. His growing seemed to have stopped now. Oh well.

After a while, he seemed to get more used to being part of our little Pack and joined in more. Yori was still a little rude around him, but she just hates dogs (wolves are in the dog family) in general. She thinks they're idiots.

We all got to know each other better. We're practically like a family now. And with a steady income, we began to renovate the building. We bought a soft, cozy rug that your feet sink into. We use it as a bed. We were also able to get one of those little radios, the ones with the TV screens on it. It was really cheep because it was broken, but Koro was able to tell how it was supposed to work and fix it right up. Now we have radio, and television. Also a few board games and a cooler to keep the food in. Plus a microwave Koro fixed up to run on batteries (we don't have electricity).

Some things you may be wondering:

-Where do we get our water?  
We buy it in bottles and keep it in the cooler.

-What do we do when we need to go to the bathroom?  
Go to a public one. There are several close by.

-What about showers?  
The indoor community pool has showers in it. We all got memberships and go there a few times a week. They have the showers in the locker rooms, and it's not that hard to smuggle in shampoo and soap.

-How do I know all of the questions you are thinking?  
It's really creepy, isn't it?

So, life was pretty good for a while. We had money to buy food and clothes, and everyone was pretty content with their lives. That is, until the twins came home, that fateful day. Here's how it went:

I was at the house, trying to see what TV signals I could pick up and if there was anything good on. Mimi and Kiki ran into the room.

"Maya!" They exclaimed, at the same time. I looked up.

"Hey," I said.

Mimi (I think it was Mimi, but I couldn't really see their necklaces, so I'm not really sure) said, "We were out shopping and-"

"What did you buy that you shouldn't have?" I asked. The twins had gotten really into fashion.

Kiki held up a pair of gold flip-flops. "These, but that's not what we were talking about."

"Ok, keep talking, then." I said.

"We were out and we started talking to these kids-"

"Who were they and what did you tell them that you weren't supposed to?" Yes, I do have to ask these questions. I am not only paranoid, but this has happened before.

"Just some kids, and stop interrupting us!" They both almost screamed. "As we were saying, we were talking to these kids, and they started talking about school. Not the lab School, but the real, non-evil school where you learn stuff."

Mimi continued alone, "And it sounded like a lot of fun!"

Kiki said, "A lot of fun!"

"So we were wondering if we could go to school?" They both finished at the same time.

* * *

**Yes, school. **

**My little sister gave me the ideas for Mimi and Kiki.**

**I finally got around to re-reading the series. Makes much more sense now. :)**

**Hope you liked this chapter. I'll probably get the next one up soon. **


	6. Chapter 5: School: The real kind

**I'm gonna have fun with this chapter. It's mutant kids who don't like being told what to do going to school. :P**

**Maximum Ride = Not mine**

**

* * *

**"I still can't believe you guys talked me into this." I said, holding my head in my hand. We were all dressed up in our most un-bloodied and un-torn clothes to go *gasp!* school.

Koro walked over to me. "I'll bet you that we'll be kicked out within two weeks."

"Ehh..." I began. "I'd say more like two to four. We've been keeping it together pretty well. But no longer than a month."

"You're on."

"Alright, what are the terms?"

"If I win," Koro said. "Then I can buy an iPhone."

"No."

"Chicken!"

"We can't afford it!"

"iTouch?"

I shrugged. "Ok. But if I win," I thought for a second. It had to be bad. Then I smiled. "If I win, you have to go shopping with the Twins."

Mimi and Kiki were into fashion lately, and were the most likely to run squealing into the undergarments section of Victoria's Secret.

Koro frowned, obviously not liking the thought, but then smiled again. "Deal."

We shook hands, sealing the bet.

"Come on!" Kiki shouted. "We're going to be late!"

A few days ago, Mimi and Kiki had finally convinced me to let us all go to school. Just so you know, Jaws and Sky had agreed with them, so I really didn't have much of a choice. So then we faked some signatures and got enrolled. Yori's going to watch the building while we're away, since she looks like a cat, and we can't really enroll a cat.

The school was far enough away from our home that we had to wake up early to start walking. I am not spending more money on a bus, not to mention the fact that we would be in a small, enclosed space with a lot of people we don't know. So we walk. And wake up early. I'm already off to a bad start.

So, after walking for an hour (more or less. Plus we stopped for breakfast, so I am really not sure how much time we actually spent walking), we came to the school. R. H. Middle School. I'm not sure what the R. H. stands for. Maybe the guy who founded it? Some famous person I'm not familiar with? Who knows, and I really don't care. We all walked into the building and found our way to the main office. I could feel Sky tense up beside me when she saw how small the rooms were. But hey, she wanted to do this, not me.

The principal seemed nice enough. He was a tall man with graying hair and beady black eyes. He welcomed us and brought us all to our rooms. We each had a different room with a different teacher, so I was already on edge. We were going to be separated, among everything else. Great.

My room was the first one he brought us to, so I didn't see where the other members of my Pack went. I just sat down quietly in an empty chair.

The first few weeks of school went like this:

* * *

Mimi sat quietly at her desk with her hands folded neatly in front of her. Suddenly, she jumped up and screamed.

Everyone in the room stared at Mimi with shock and worry.

"There's an Eraser in Kiki's class!" Mimi shouted. "A kid told her so!"

She got a bunch of blank stares. Mimi calmed quickly and sat back down.

"Sorry," she said. "It was a false alarm."

With a few nervous glances in her direction, the class turned back to its work. Mimi leaned over to the boy sitting next to her (she thought his name was Will or something) and whispered, "Did you know that the little pink thing on the end of a pencil is called an eraser? Just like the wolf monsters!"

The boy stared at her and scooted his desk a little further away from her's.

* * *

I walked down to the office. Koro had been sent down there for getting in a fight, and now I had to vouch for him and get him out of whatever punishment they wanted to do to him.

He was sitting down in one of the chairs next to a secretary when I got there. I walked over.

"Alright, how badly did you hurt him?" I asked. Koro is an excellent fighter. We all are. So I was much more worried about the other kid than him.

"Um, a few bruises and a broken leg." He said.

I sighed. "And why would you get into a fight?"

His face hardened into anger. "You should have heard what he was saying about Mi 'n Ki." He called the twins Mi 'n Ki sometimes. But it is kind of a mouthful to call them Mimi and Kiki all the time.

"What did he say?"

Koro leaned in close to me and put his hands around my ear and whispered into it. My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped.

"Where is that little twerp?" I almost shouted. "I'll break his other leg!"

Koro grabbed my arm to keep me from running off to the hospital with a chainsaw. One thing that me and Koro have in common, is that we are both protective (possible overprotective) of our Pack.

* * *

Sky looked down at her paper. She was in math class, and it was NOT easy. Everyone around her scribbled their answers onto their papers.

She stared at the test. How was she supposed to know any of this stuff?

The clocked ticked increasingly faster.

Her heart rate sped up.

The room felt way too hot.

The scribbling of everyone else's pencils on their papers was going to drive her insane!

The clock was too fast.

The room was too hot.

The problem was too confusing.

Sky put her pencil tip to her paper a little too hard and it snapped. That was when her final nerve also snapped.

She jumped up and screamed, "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! AHHHHHHHH!"

Then she jumped out of the second story window in the back of the classroom.

* * *

I walked into the classroom and took my seat. I switched classes every period in this school. Now I was going to science.

The teacher stood at the front of the room as soon as the bell rang and began to draw on the blackboard with chalk. I tried to pay attention, because, after all, if I have to be here, I might as well learn something.

The teacher drew a bunch of numbers and letters on the board. I watched him, but my attention began to slide elsewhere. What would we be having for dinner tonight? What's for lunch? When is this class going to be over?

Something the teacher said stopped my train of thought. Did he just say 'genetics'?

I looked back up at the board. The teacher was explaining about DNA, splicing cells, and other human genetics.

Then he started talking about grafting human DNA into some type of bacteria to make it grow some sort of enzyme.

My eyes were wide now. It can't be! They couldn't have found us! This is a public school, for crying out loud!

"And now, class, we will begin our lab." The teacher said as he pulled on a WHITE LAB COAT!

I couldn't take it anymore. I jumped up and screamed, "You're one of THEM! You'll never catch me alive!"

And then I ran, screaming, out of the room.

* * *

Lunch in a school cafeteria is loud, not really very good, and has portions that would barely feed a crab. We all found each other and claimed a table as our own.

"So, how is everyone liking school so far?" I asked.

"I jumped out a window third period," Sky said. I gave her a quizzical look. "The test stressed me out," she explained.

"The girls creep me out," Jaws said, looking over his shoulder at a table of young girls behind him. Being an Eraser, he was very cute. And all of the girls in his grade seemed to have a crush on him. And liked to stalk him. It really was pretty creepy.

Mimi and Kiki were staring at their tiny trays of food. "I'm hungry," Mimi started.

"But not that hungry," Kiki finished. Both began poking the brown glob that I think was supposed to be turkey.

"I agree," Koro said, pushing his tray away. We all did the same.

"I'll tell you what," I said, coming up with a great idea, just like the fabulous leader I am. "We'll all pack a bag lunch tomorrow."

Everyone nodded.

"Dumpster diving is better than this," Sky said. During the return trip from my daring rescue mission, we had run a little short on money and had grabbed a meal or two from the garbage can behind a restaurant a few times. Not as bad you would think.

The bell rang and we all stood up and ran out the door.

* * *

Jaws walked into his Spanish class at the end of the day. The teacher turned to him.

"Hello, and welcome to Spanish Class!" She said cheerfully. "My name is Mrs. Jones. Please tell us your name."

"My name is Jason," he said. They had all chosen fake names for school. Maya was May, Sky was June, Koro was Jeff, Mimi and Kiki kept their names (they were common enough, plus we had enough problems remembering who was who without new names) and Jaws was Jason.

"Have you ever taken any other Spanish classes before?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"No," Jaws answered.

"Really? Because you speak it really well."

He stopped. He wasn't speaking Spanish. He didn't know more that 'hola' and 'burrito.' But as he looked back on the conversation Jaws had just had with his teacher, he realized, he had been talking in Spanish. The entire conversation had been in Spanish. He could speek Spanish!

"Well, my mother taught it to me," He said quickly, making sure it was in English.

Jaws could speak Spanish! Wait until the others heard about this!

* * *

We were all told to go down to the principal's office one afternoon. The principal was really angry, apparently because Kiki was trying to strike the dissecting of frogs and worms. At this, both Jaws and Koro asked to be transferred into her class so they _could_ dissect them. It must be a boy thing, because I am siding with Kiki.

Then the principal started talking about how Will's (the boy Koro had gotten into a fight with) parents might press charges. And how we were all a bunch of misbehaved little brats and should go find a pit of poisonous snakes to through ourselves into.

At least, that's what I thought he had said. I wasn't really paying any attention. I was still convinced that the science teachers were Whitecoats here to drag us back to the School (the lab) and preform more horrible experiments on us. So I was memorizing escape routs and possible weapons.

Then the principal (I never took the time to memorize his name) said he would have to talk to our parents (we were posing as adopted siblings).

"Um... you can't talk to them," I said nervously.

He eyed me suspiciously. "Why not?"

"Because... um... our mom died in, um, the war, and our dad is, uh," I scanned the room for any ideas. Nothing. "really sick." I finished lamely.

The principal didn't look convinced. He pulled out our records.

"It says here that your _mother_ signed this." He pointed to a name scribbled on a line.

"Uh, no! That is our dad's signiture!" I said.

"Your dad's name is Mary?" The principal cocked an eyebrow.

"Um, yes! It's short for Marian!" I quickly made up. That could be a boy's name, right?

The principal still looked suspicious, but let us go as the bell rang. I herded my Pack outside the building as fast as I could. When we were a safe distance away, we talked.

"Who forged the signature?" I whispered as menacingly as I could.

Mimi and Kiki pointed to Jaws.

"Why didn't you do a name that could be either gender?" I snarled. "Like Alex or Sam or Madison or something!"

"Because I didn't know we would be saying that our mother died." He answered.

"What are we going to do if the parents of that little boy do press charges?" Sky asked.

"That's easy." I said. "We'll move away, possibly out of the country. Where no one would be able to find us."

"Mexico!" Mimi and Kiki said at the same time.

"Mexico?" I echoed. "But Canada's closer."

"Yeah" Mimi answered. "But they have tacos in Mexico!"

"And festive dances!" Added Kiki.

"Ok, but how would we get past the border patrol?" I asked. I received a lot of 'you have _got _to be kidding' stares.

"Yeah, your right." I said.

"Guess what!" Jaws suddenly exclaimed.

I looked over at him. "What?"

"I can speak Spanish!"

Everyone stopped walking.

"Seriously?" Koro asked. Jaws nodded his head vigorously.

"How? When did you learn?" Kiki asked excitedly.

"I don't know." Jaws said. "I was in Spanish class today and the teacher, Senora Jones, was talking in Spanish and I understood her and then I was talking it and it was so cool!"

"Say something in Spanish," Sky said.

Jaws thought for a second. "Ok, um... Today we learned about verbs and how to conjugate them."

"Good," I said. "Now say it in Spanish."

"I thought I did," He answered, drooping a little. "I don't know how I did it in class."

We all thought this over a bit. I watched his aura. He wasn't lying, and there was something different about him.

"It's ok," Koro said, walking over to him. "We'll figure this out."

Jaws nodded and rested his hand on a parking meter. Then he pulled it away like he had been burned.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," He said slowly, and he carefully placed his hand on the meter again. He closed his eyes.

"I can feel how the gears turn," he said. "When the money goes in the slot, I can fell where it goes and how it works."

Koro lifted his eyebrows. "That's how my ability works."

Jaws walked over to a car, a little bit away from us and placed his hand on it. He frowned. "Now I can't do it anymore."

"Another mystery." Sky said.

Jaws walked back over to the group and stood next to me. We began walking again. I noticed that he was watching the people around us with real interest.

"What are those colorful clouds around all the people?" He asked. I stopped walking. Now he could see people's auras?

He didn't notice that I had stopped and continued walking. When he was a few feet away, he stopped, too.

"I can't see it anymore," He said with obvious disappointment.

Yori, who had walked to the school to find us and had remained quiet the whole time, spoke up. "I think I figured it out."

We all turned to her. "What?"

"Jaws' new ability." She said, watching him carefully. "He can do whatever the people close to him can do."

Well, that would explain it. We were all silent for a moment as the logic of the statement settled in.

"But then why could he speak Spanish in his class today?" Kiki piped in.

"Well," Yori began. "Maybe his ability isn't just copying the superpower-like things we can do, but also the natural things regular people can do."

"So if he was standing next to a Black Belt, he would be able to do Karate?" Sky asked.

"Probably."

"That is cool." Koro said. We all murmured our agreements.

* * *

So, now you know how school went for us. There was never a boring day! Now, one of my reviewers asked how we would be able to wear our hats in school. Well, the answer to that question is that we got a note from our 'parents' and 'doctors' saying we had to wear them for some reason that Koro looked up online.

Anyway, I would just like to say that school is not for the mutants. As you can tell. And did you know that they expect us to eat our food with a fork? I mean, come on! Those things are a waste of plastic. Besides, we can just use our hands. They work just as well. And if everyone is soooo interested in not touching the food until you put it into your mouth, why not make sporks? Schools could cut down their plastic waste by almost half by just replacing spoons and forks with sporks! Go Green!

Plus it's fun to say 'spork!'

Anywho, it was on a Monday that the real problem happened. A field trip. To the zoo.

Because the one thing a bunch of emotionly scarred recombinant life form children/animals who grew up in cages need to see is a zoo full of caged animals. In the hot sun. When they are hyped up on ice cream.

In the short version, this is how it went:

I found Koro and Yori in the lynx exhibit, having an intense three-way conversation with the animals.

Mimi and Kiki were over by the foxes, and every single one of the animals were crowded at the edge of the exhibit trying to get closer to them. Mimi had her hand poked through the bars and was petting one of them while Kiki fed them hot dogs from the vender.

Sky had found the bird room and was staring up at them all with wonder and longing. I worried about her sometimes. After all, she was the only one of us that couldn't use her animal parts. It must be hard.

I found myself looking at the tigers the most. They were just such beautiful creatures. Orange and black stripes and all.

But none of that was anything compared to what Jaws did.

I was just sitting on a bench in the sun, enjoying the good weather, and everything was calm. Kids ran around looking at the animals, adults were selling everything from popcorn to ice-cream to hot dogs.

And then, with no warning at all, it happened.

A stampede of wort-hogs came charging down the pathway, and who should be riding on the one in front?

You guessed it.

Jaws.

So he had broken into the wort-hog exhibit, broken them all out, and was now riding the big one while screaming on the top of his lungs, "FREEDOM!"

We got kicked out of school for that. Well, along with everything else.

And for all you readers who are wondering who won the bet I made with Koro at the beginning of the chapter, I will tell you now. It has been exactly two weeks and a day since we started school.

I won.

* * *

So, a few days later, we were all at the mall hanging out. Koro had to go separately with Mimi and Kiki, so he wan't with the rest of us. Us meaning me, Sky, Jaws, and Yori.

We were meeting him and the twins in the cafe for lunch.

And speak of the devil, here he came.

The twins were holding several bags, and Koro had to carry most of them. I couldn't help but laugh, especially when I saw the Victoria's Secret logo on one of them.

"Maya!" Both girls exclaimed at the same time once they had reached our table. "Can we get cell phones?"

"Who would you call?" I asked, appalled. The School (the lab School. When it is spelled with a capital letter, it's the lab. A lowercase is the place where you are supposed to learn stuff) could track phones.

"We would call each other!"

I blinked. The twins, who could communicate telepathically, now wanted to text each other.

"No," I said.

"Ahhhhh," they moaned.

"So, Koro, how was your day?" I asked, sounding as sweet as I could. Then I frowned as he broke out into an evil grin. And I almost screamed when he pulled out a small bag with an Apple Store (company, not the fruit) logo on it.

"You didn't." I said.

He grinned even more and then he reached inside the bag and took out an iTouch.

"You evil little-" I began, but was interrupted.

"If he gets one, so do I." Jaws said determinedly.

"No."

He glared at me and I didn't have any choice but to stare him down into summation. Then I glared at Koro.

"I_ will _get you for this." I promised. He grinned, flashing perfect, sharp white teeth.

Then I reached into my bag and pulled out the laptop I had been assigned at school and had "accidentally" forgotten to return.

"Ok, now that we are out of school, what are we going to do next?" I asked.

"Go back to our building and sleep in again?" Sky offered.

I closed my laptop. Guess I wouldn't need it after all. "Sounds good to me."

I set my laptop back into my bag and we walked out of the store. A few streets away, there were some sketchy looking fellows. They looked like maybe they were were-wolves in a movie. They spotted us and began to speedup.

"Behind us, seven o'clock." I whispered. Everyone in the Pack took a quick glance back and then hurried a little bit more. We turned a corner into the run-down part of town, but instead of going back home, we took a few more turns to confuse the people I was now certain were Erasers (and not the pink, rubber ones). But that didn't work. We all saw when we looked back and they were still there.

No good. Not good at all.

We turned another corner and flattened ourselves against the wall of a building. I put my head around the edge and watched them come closer. There was something really strange about these Erasers. Maybe it was that they hadn't looked human when we first spotted them. They were always morphed into full-fledged wolf form.

I really needed to think of something fast, or we were all toast.

But before I had the chance, Jaws came to the rescue, by pulling a pack of matches out of his back pocket (where did he get matches?) and a can of hair spray out of my bag (hairspray? Who bought hairspray?) and running out into the direct line of the Erasers.

Was he crazy?

He struck one of the matches and held it up to the Erasers. Then he lifted the can of hairspray and aimed it at the Erasers from behind the match.

"Say 'hello' to my little friend." He said ominously. Then he pressed down on the hairspray so it sprayed out of the can.

Apparently the hairspray was really flammable, because the amount of fire that shot out at those Erasers... wow. I tucked this little bit of information in the back of my brain in case I ever needed it and had an extra can of hairspray around.

After a few minutes, Jaws let go of the hairspray and the fire burned out. He shook the match to put it out and the rest of us slowly and cautiously came out of hiding. I walked up to the blackened remains and poked it with my boot. And then the strangest thing happened. The charred skin _fell__ right off._

Which wasn't as bad as your thinking, because underneath wasn't flesh, but _metal_. I called over Koro,and he placed his hand on the remains.

"That is so weird," He said, standing back up.

"Not to mention disturbing." I added.

"They can fly, but they are just robots with skin grown over them." Koro said. I nodded. Erasers, then flying Erasers, now robot Erasers. What would they think of next?

"They know we're here," I said quietly. These... Flyboy things had been looking for us. The scientists knew we were here.

"We have to leave." I said, walking quickly back to where the rest of my Pack was still standing. "Still want to go to Mexico?"

Mimi and Kiki smiled. This time, I had a plan. We would go back to our house, collect all of our money and everything else we could carry and we would leave the country. Tonight.

I would never go back to the School. And as long as I am alive, neither would any of my pack.

* * *

**Wow, long chapter. Exciting, though. Hope you liked it. And sorry that I didn't update for a while. I was swamped with homework and chores and way too many other activities I signed up for. I will update soon, though, because things are going to get really interesting.**

**And yes, I did have to make the Eraser (wolf-man)/eraser (pink, rubber thing at the end of a pencil) joke. **

******Please review****. **


	7. Chapter 6: Break Away

**Yesh! I am back to give you another chapter!**

**Break Away is a song that I love that fits the Maximum Ride series really well. So, I named a chapter after it. **

**Maximum Ride: A totally awesome story about mutant bird kids who can fly. I do not own it, as much as I would like to.**

**I also do not own the song 'Breakaway'**

**

* * *

**We had been traveling for a few days now, and there hadn't been much activity. Nothing too interesting, anyway. We weren't even near the Mexican border yet, only about half way there. Currently, it was the middle of the day, and we were all hanging out in a small clearing in a forest. The sun was shining, beautiful and warm. The wind blew through the trees. There were very few clouds in the sky, that was a brilliant bright blue to match my sister's eyes. We hadn't been able to bring our radio, because it was too big, but we had bought a new one. It was much smaller, and didn't have a TV on it. But it played music, so that was nice. We were listening to it right now.

Mimi and Kiki were over by the edge of the woods, playing and climbing trees. Koro and Yori were with Jaws, trying to teach him Japanese, and Sky and I were just laying down in the soft grass and letting the sun warm our bodies. Sky had her light brown wings extended and resting across the clearing. The music changed to a new song. I recognized it as Breakaway, one of my favorites.

_Grew up in a small town_  
_And when the rain would fall down_  
_I'd just stare out my window_  
_Dreaming of what could be_  
_And if I'd end up happy_  
_I would pray (I would pray)_

_Trying hard to reach out_  
_But when I tried to speak out_  
_Felt like no one could hear me_  
_Wanted to belong here_  
_But something felt so wrong here_  
_So I prayed I could break away_

_[Chorus:]_  
_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly_  
_I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky_  
_And I'll make a wish_  
_Take a chance_  
_Make a change_  
_And breakaway_  
_Out of the darkness and into the sun_  
_But I won't forget all the ones that I love_  
_I'll take a risk_  
_Take a chance_  
_Make a change_  
_And breakaway_

_Wanna feel the warm breeze_  
_Sleep under a palm tree_  
_Feel the rush of the ocean_  
_Get onboard a fast train_  
_Travel on a jet plane, far away (I will)_  
_And breakaway_

_[Chorus]_

_Buildings with a hundred floors_  
_Swinging around revolving doors_  
_Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but_  
_Gotta keep moving on, moving on_  
_Fly away, breakaway_

_I'll spread my wings_  
_And I'll learn how to fly_  
_Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye_  
_I gotta take a risk_  
_Take a chance_  
_Make a change_  
_And breakaway_  
_Out of the darkness and into the sun_  
_But I won't forget the place I come from_  
_I gotta take a risk_  
_Take a chance_  
_Make a change_  
_And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway_

Sky closed her eyes as she listened to the song. Then she began to sing the chorus, but with her own words.

_I spread my wings and I stare at the sky_  
_I'll do what it takes until I learn to fly_  
_Make a wish_  
_Take a chance_  
_ Make a change_  
_And breakaway _

I reached over and put my hand on my sister's arm. She opened her eyes and smiled at me sadly. I smiled back. That was when we heard the chopper.

At first we didn't really care much. Helicopters flew around everywhere. Then it got closer and closer. Mimi and Kiki climbed down from their tree and looked up at the sky. I sat up. Koro and Yori went silent. Sky pulled her wings in. We all watched as the shiny white body of the chopper came into view. I had good eyesight. I watched it grow larger. It was headed straight for us.

"Scatter!" I shouted. It was one of the commands we had all learned. We could also say it in our own sign-language.

Everyone ran into the woods at a different direction. We would meet up at a safe point. Until then, just confuse the enemy.

I could hear footsteps behind me, but I didn't dare waste time turning around. I ran through the woods, and then took to the trees. I continued to run around the woods for a while. No one seemed to be following me anymore. I relaxed a bit.

And then I heard the scream.

_No! _Was the only coherent thought I could get through my head as I ran toward the sound. I had to get to her! They wouldn't take her!

I burst out of the woods back into our clearing. The chopper was landed there, with people and those Flyboys everywhere. One of them was holding the unconscious form of my sister.

I didn't think. I just ran. Something grabbed my from behind and pain shot through my body. Then someone pressed a cloth up to my face. It smelled a strange sticky sweet. The world faded into black.

* * *

I woke up in a small white room. There was a window set in one of the walls that provided the only light. But it was dark outside the window, the only light coming from the almost-full moon. The window itself had thick, metal bars in front of the glass, so I didn't think it would make a good escape rout.

The only other way in or out of the room was a door, that was locked and bolted from the outside.

I scanned the room. It was completely bare except for a dark pile in one of the corners. As I watched, the pile started moving.

_Sky,_ I thought, and I crawled over to her side. She opened her eyes and scanned the room.

"Where are we?" Sky asked groggily.

I recognized the sterile smell, the clean white walls, and the aura of terror that this place had. "A lab," I answered. Sky went rigid beside me. I looked toward the window, but I didn't recognize the view. Not the School, and not the Institute. Somewhere else, then. I leaned against Sky and watched the door for any signs of life. We stayed curled up in that corner for a while. I'm not really sure how long. But the dark sky outside turned light again before someone entered the room.

Or several someones.

There were a few Whitecoats and some more of those Flyboys. There was also an Eraser. Funny, I had figured that with the Flyboys, they wouldn't need Erasers anymore. But, here he was. Probably one of the last of his kind. [A/N: no, he is not Ari. Just an Eraser who hadn't reached his expiration date yet, so they let him live.]

I watched the door close behind them and heard a lock click into place. We had to get out of here, and the door was out. So that left... the window and blowing up a wall. I wondered if there was anything explosive in here...

The Whitecoat started talking, but I didn't really pay attention. Sky would do that. I would find a way to get out of here.

The Whitecoat kept droning on and on about who-knows-what and I finally got tired of it. I took off my shoe (Sky and I were still in our regular clothes, which is a little strange, but helpful) and chucked it at him with enough force to knock out teeth. Plus, I'm pretty sure throwing your shoe at someone is a sign of disrespect in some country.

However, to my great disappointment, it never hit him. One of the Flyboys got in the way. Then all H*** broke loose. Half the Flyboys attacked us, and the other half were tying to get the Whitecoat out of the room. The Eraser stayed with us. Sky and I jumped into action. I saw her give a roundhouse kick to one of the Flyboys. I kicked at one at a certain angle, and it fell over, spewing sparks. I shouted this information to Sky. She nodded. The real Eraser came at me. I jumped out of the way. He overshot, and went skidding behind me for a foot. That gave me an idea.

I ran over to the window, and stood in front of it. The Eraser was even angrier now, and fully morphed. He snapped his giant jaws and bared his sharp teeth. I resisted my instinct to run. He charged. I waited. I heard Sky scream my name. When the Eraser was only about a foot in front of me, I jumped to the side. He went skidding into the window's metal bars, his jaws and teeth tearing them from the window sill.

I launched myself back into battle. Sky moved up to me, and we pressed our backs together. Then the door opened again. This time, there were more Flyboys, and they had loaded guns attached to their arms. The guns aimed at me and Sky. We both froze. The Whitecoat walked back into the room.

He glared at us. "If you don't want to die, you will stop fighting right now."

My eyes flitted around the room. We were on the opposite wall from the door, and there were plenty of robots with guns between here and there, so once again, the door was out. The window was behind us, with the bars broken. Perhaps we could...

The Whitecoat launched into a victory speech. I lifted an eyebrow. Seriously? Where do these guys get their agendas from? Cartoon Network? [A/N: I do not own Cartoon Network. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say that or not, so just to be safe, here it is.]

I whispered to Sky, "Break away."

She nodded, glancing at the window from the corner of her eye.

About five seconds passed, and then we both threw our full weights against the window. Just as I had hopped, it shattered and we fell out. It turns out that this is a tall building, and we were on one of the highest floors. Maybe that was why we had a window at all. I was able to grab another window sill and swing onto a ledge on the wall. But Sky didn't. And she couldn't fly.

I watched as Sky fell down like a rock. As she passed my ledge, I reached a hand out to grab her's. She reached out her own, and just like so many years ago, our finger brushed against each others before Sky fell out of reach. She stared up at my face, and we realized that this might be the we saw each other. I watched the determination flare in my sister's eyes before she closed them. She fell far below me, and snapped out her wings. They filled with air and slowed her fall. Then, with all her might, she pushed them down. And she flew up.

Sky's eyes flew open as she rose into the sky, the wind blowing through her long, blond hair. She pushed down again, and I saw the light in her eyes, and heard her laugh. I felt tears in my own eyes at the sight. The relief that she would survive lifted my spirits as high as she flew.

Sky lifted her hand, as though to touch the sky itself, and the words of the song 'Breakaway' filled my head.

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly_  
_I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky_  
_And I'll make a wish_  
_Take a chance_  
_Make a change_  
_And breakaway_  
_Out of the darkness and into the sun_  
_But I won't forget all the ones that I love_  
_I'll take a risk_  
_Take a chance_  
_Make a change_  
_And breakaway_

The sun glinted off her feathers, and shone through her hair. Sky was a beautiful angel in the sky. It was something I would remember for all my life.

Then the gunshot shattered the moment.

I saw red blossom on one of Sky's wings. The wing crumpled uselessly against her body. She cried out in pain and began trying in vain to stay airborne with her other wing. Then another gunshot rang out, and red stained her midsection. Her single working wing stopped flapping. And I watched helplessly as my sister fell into the trees below.

* * *

**How many of you hate me right now? Dramatic chapter, right?**

***gets down on knees and starts begging for mercy* Please don't kill me! Please! It had to be done! Oh, poor Sky! Poor Maya! **

**Please review. I beg of you!**


	8. Chapter 7: We Meet Again

**I am back... again! But I suppose you already knew that! Kuz this is another chapter! So it makes sense that I have returned! **

**I really liked that last chapter. Such a cliff hanger! And so dramatic!**

**In this chapter, you meet someone new! Who is it? I'm not gonna tell you! Read and find out!**

**I hate homework. Don't you? I have so little time to myself to just work on the computer anymore. And, like, a billion stories to work on. What am I supposed to do? Anyway, back to talking about this story. **

**What will happen to Sky? What will happen to Maya? Where is the rest of the Pack? Why am I asking so many questions?**

**And yes, I am only making the Author's note really long so you have to wait longer to read the chapter and find the answer to all these questions. **

**So, I had better get going now. I own nothing. Blah blah blah. **

**On with the chapter!**

* * *

I ran as fast as I could through the woods. The sticks scrapped at my legs, ripping through the fabric and tearing at my skin. My lungs were beginning to burn with the effort.

Sky? Where was Sky? She had fallen somewhere around here. Where was she? Where was my sister? Was she dead or alive? How bad was she hurt?

And how long until they dragged us both back to the lab?

Sky had been pretty far away when she had been shot-

Pain filled my chest and I shoved the image of my sister, crumpled and bloodied, face contorted in pain, as she fell from the sky.

My eyes swept the ground, taking in the bushes and branches, searching for some sign of feathers or wings or fabric to tell me I was in the right place. But maybe I wasn't. Maybe I had misjudged the distance and was in a completely different place than where she had fallen. What would I do then? If I couldn't find her?

I ran a few more steps and swept the ground again. There was a pile of leaves that twitched. I ran closer to it. There was a light brown wing sticking out.

"Sky!" I shouted. I dropped to my knees and began clearing the leaves and branches away. I uncovered a leg, and a body attached to the leg. And a head above it. Two arms. The other leg. Two wings. It was Sky. It was my sister.

There was scarlet blood everywhere, soaking her clothes, pooling on the ground around her, sticking to the leaves. But that wasn't the only problem. One of Sky's legs was bent at an impossible angle, and her wing was a mangled mess. An arm was sticking out strangely, and I could tell it was broken. Maybe some broken ribs as well. She looked awful. But to my surprise, Sky was still conscious.

She stared uncomprehendingly at me as I ripped my shirt to make a bandage. I had to stop the bleeding!

"It doesn't hurt," Sky said quietly. "I can't feel anything."

I panicked.

"Sky!" I shouted, even though it would probably lead the search teams straight to us. "Don't die!" Didn't people say that right before they died? That they stopped feeling the pain?

I grabbed my sister's shoulders unconsciously and began shaking her. "You can't die! You can't die! DON'T DIE ON ME!"

"Maya!" Sky shouted over my screams of panic and terror. I stared at her, eyes wild.

"Maya," Sky repeated, quieter this time. "I am not dying, not yet, at least. What I meant when I said that I couldn't feel anything, I just meant that it didn't hurt right now. Do not freak out again."

I took a deep breath and let go of my sister's shoulders. I was supposed to be the leader, and I couldn't keep it together when one of my pack needed me. That was embarrassing.

But I swallowed my pride and picked my make-shift bandage back up and pressed it to Sky's stomach. It soaked with her blood.

_Her blood. _

I shivered at the thought.

I wiped the area and pulled the cloth away so I could take a look at the wound. It was-

Nothing.

There was nothing there.

No mark on the skin to show that Sky had been shot. Not even a scar, a bruise, a scratch. Nothing.

My sister, surprised by my sudden pause, lifted her head to see what had shocked me so much. Her eyes fell on the spot where a gaping bullet hole should be. We both lifted our heads at stared into each other's wide eyes. Slowly, Sky lifted her good hand and felt at her stomach.

I stood up and made my way over to Sky's wing. It was mangled and broken, but not bleeding. No bullet hole.

Sky sat up, and cradled her broken arm against her body. Then, she carefully pushed it back into place. I heard her suck in her breath, so I knew it hurt. But once the bone was back in place, she moved it around.

"Good as new," she said, picking up a twig, just to see if she could. Sky moved onto her wing, straitening it and sighing as the pain left her. Then she fixed her leg. She stood up.

"Ok, wow." I finally managed to say. The shock of my sister's almost death experience and miraculous new skill were beginning to wear off.

Sky smiled at me, flexing her wing. "And the best part is, I can fly!" There was a joy in her voice and a light in her eyes that I wasn't used to.

I smiled at my sister, but then another though popped into my head. "So, they shot you twice. The first bullet probably went all the way through your wing, but what happened to the one in your stomach? That couldn't have gone through. You were too far away."

We both looked down at her middle section. Then Sky started gagging. I looked up at her face, startled. She looked just as confused as I was. Sky gave a little gag and a cough and then paused. She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out at me. One her tongue was the missing bullet.

We both broke down into giggles which turned into spasms of laughter. I felt myself fall onto the ground, and tears run down my face. We both laughed, even though there was little to laugh at. But sometimes, it just has to be done.

"Maya! Sky!" A familiar voice called out.

We both looked up toward the source as soon as we could get our giggles under control. I could just make out someone running to us, taking long bounds. I stood up and waved.

"Koro! Over here!" I shouted. Sky stood up and we both ran to our friend. As we got closer, I could see Jaws and the twins following. And Yori by Koro's feet.

A gunshot fired somewhere close to the building Sky and I had just escaped from. Everyone in my pack ducked instinctively. Then we all straightened up and stared at the building.

"We should go now..." I said. Everyone else nodded and we took off in the direction they had just come from.

* * *

A few days later, we finally managed to get everyone off out tails (no pun intended). And we were somewhere in the middle of the mountains in... some state I should probably find out the name of. Except for the fact that there was NO ONE AROUND HERE!

Which was good, because it meant that no one would be there to hunt us and we could finally let out our wings and tails and stuff.

But bad, because it meant that there was absolutely nothing for us to eat, drink, etc.

So, there was good and bad to it, but it was the only place we had to stay for the night. The pack had found a nice little grove of trees to make camp for the night, and Koro and I were out scouting the area.

"So, what happened to you after Sky and I were captured?" I asked.

"Well, things got pretty crazy at first." Koro said. "Mimi and Kiki started crying and running around, Jaws said he had to go to the bathroom and ran into the woods for, like, half an hour. I think he was pretty upset by the whole thing. Yori was still terrified that they would come back and she was still in hiding. It took a while to round everyone up and even longer to calm them all down."

Koro leaned against a tree, and I stopped walking to watch him.

"That's when we found out about Mi 'n Ki's new ability." He continued. "It's probably only one of them's, but because of the mind link thing between them, we're not sure. Mimi and Kiki can track _anything_. No matter what it is, they can find it. And they always know exactly where we are and how far we traveled and stuff like that. They're like our own personal GPS."

"Whoa." I said quietly. "We told you guys about Sky's ability, right?"

"Yeah. She can heal herself." Koro answered. We both started walking again.

"Why do you think we keep-" I began, but my sentence was cut off suddenly when we walked into a clearing. Because right in front of us was a sheer cliff. But in front of that was something that scared me. A pile of ash, covering an area as big as a house. It had been washed and weathered away, but you could tell it was still there. The rectangle where nothing but a few weeds grew out of the ashes.

"What in the world...?" Koro muttered. I took a hesitant step forward.

"It had to have been a house." Koro continued. "You can see some brick and pieces of mangled and melted metal. Someone lived here, and someone burned it down. And not that long ago, either."

"I don't like this," I said. "We shouldn't be staying anywhere near here. Come on, lets go."

I turned to leave, but Koro took a step toward the rubble and ash.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "What if whoever did this," I motioned to the blackened and scarred ground, "is still here somewhere? Do you want to get us all killed?"

But Koro just shook his head. "I just want to take a closer look. Maybe there's something here we can use."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but make it quick. I don't like this at all..."

Koro stepped onto the black ground, and I saw the wet ash stick to his shoes. Great, now he would track it with him and leave a trail for anyone out there to follow. But Koro didn't seem to notice. He poked at piles of who-knows-what and dug around a little. Every so often, he placed something into the little bag we had brought, just in case we saw some nuts or berries or a big cheeseburger laying around.

Finally, he came back over to me. But first, he stepped into a small stream near by to wash off his shoes. Ok, so no trail of ash from his shoes, but still. This could be dangerous.

And sure enough, I heard something behind me. Just a small sound, a snap of a twig beneath someone's foot. But enough to send my mind into red alert. I saw Koro freeze from where he was standing, facing me. I met his eyes, and he gave a little shake of his head. He didn't see anything. But that didn't mean that there was nothing out there. I hoped that Sky had kept the bags packed, because we might need to get out of here-

Oh no. Sky. And Mimi and Kiki and Jaws and Yori. They were back at the camp. With the two best fighters gone.

I jumped around before thinking anything else through. I would meet this new threat head on. I scanned the area, but saw nothing.

In the end, it was his aura that gave him away.

Although I couldn't see him, his aura stood out against the dark tree he was standing in front of. I studied that aura. There was something strangely familiar about it...

That's when he decided that he had been found and stepped forward.

It was so strange. On second, nothing but his aura to give away his position. But as soon as he moved, BAM! There he was. A guy with dark hair, black clothes, and tanned skin. Once again, something familiar...

"Have we met?" I asked, studying him further. Koro walked up to stand next to me.

"I don't think so," the dark guy said. Familiar voice. I definitely knew him from somewhere. That is when it hit me.

"Sewer Boy!" I suddenly shouted. Koro looked at me, shocked at my sudden, and seemingly random, outburst.

But the dark boy only lifted an eyebrow, looking me over closely. "Cat Girl?"

I nodded a few times, then remembered that I had left my hat on. Force of habit, plus I'm kinda paranoid that someone would see me, ever since that one time at the diner with those Erasers. I grabbed my hat and pulled it off.

"You two know each other?" Koro asked, obviously getting more and more confuddled by the second. [A/N: Confuddled. I like that word. For anyone who doesn't know, it means confused.]

"Yeah!" I answered him. "When I was searching for Sky, I saw him climb out of the sewers of New York with a bunch of other mutants. He told me where the School was."

Koro nodded. I turned back to Sewer Boy. "So, how have things been? Where are the rest of the mutants? What are you doing here?"

Sewer Boy was quiet for a few moments. "That's none of your business, I don't want to talk about it, and I used to live here."

Me and Koro looked at each other, than back at the pile of ashes that used to be a house.

"Soooo..." I began again. "Want to come back to our make-shift camp?"

Sewer Boy nodded slightly. And I led the way back to camp.

* * *

"Wow." Mimi and Kiki said at the same time. "Tall, dark, handsome just entered the clearing."

Yes, they were talking about Sewer Boy.

"Are you single?" Mimi asked.

"No." Sewer Boy answered.

Mi 'n Ki visibly drooped.

"Hey everyone," I said. "This is Sewer Boy. Sewer Boy, this is everyone. Mimi, Kiki, Sky, Jaws, Yori, Koro, and I'm Maya. Welcome to our camp."

Everyone mumbled a few hello's and I retold my experience with Sewer Boy back in the streets of New York.

"Wait a minute," Jaws said when I had finished. "Aren't you that flying guy with the blog? Uh, Tooth or something?"

"Fang." Sewer Boy, err, Fang corrected.

There was a gasp from most of the group, including me.

"Fang." Sky said. "You're_ Fang_."

"As in, _the_ Fang?" Yori asked. "One of the flying kids who _got away_."

Fang nodded. There was another gasp. You could practically see the question mark forming above Fang's head.

"Dude," Koro said. "You're a _legend_. 'The Bird Boy who got away.' There were five of you, right? No, six, I think. Three girls and three guys. The successful experiments who escaped. Who got free."

"What happened to the rest of them?" I asked.

"What happened to Maximum?" Mimi and Kiki asked.

Fang looked at us all darkly. "Nothing." He murmured.

"Then why aren't you with them?" Yori asked. "Unless... unless they're somewhere around here. In these woods. Are they?"

We all waited eagerly.

"No. They aren't."

"So where are they?" Koro asked.

"I don't know."

Mimi piped up again. "So then why are you here instead of-"

"I'm not answering any more questions." Fang interrupted.

"Yeah, leave the guy alone," I said, standing up. "Anyway, we should be getting some sleep now, anyway. We cross the border to Mexico tomorrow, if possible. Who wants the first watch?"

"I'll take it." Fang said. "Do you have a laptop?"

"Yeah," Sky pulled it out of one of the bags and handed it to him. Fang sat down at the edge of camp as the rest of us got ready for sleep. I laid down on the ground and closed my eyes.

* * *

Someone was shaking me.

"It's your watch."

Right. Fang was here. It was my turn to be on watch.

I stood up and walked over to the edge of camp and sat down, leaning against a tree. I looked over my pack plus Fang. Everyone was sound asleep. I looked at the sky. The moon was higher now. It was a slim crescent, just barely there. Tomorrow would be a new moon.

I looked at the laptop that had been just closed by Fang and opened it up. Hey! Would you look at that! Three bars in the middle of the mountains. Maybe it had to do with Fang's old burnt-down house being so close by. They had to have had WiFi, right?

Anywho, I looked at the page that had been minimized and opened it back up. It was a chat room.

_Hello? _I typed.

_Coolman230: Fang? ur back?_

_BlackAngel5: no, its someone else_

___Coolman230: _ok then, who r u

___BlackAngel5: _Maya. who r u?

_____Coolman230: _Iggy

_____BlackAngel5: _OMG! the iggy! the other one who escaped! OMG!

_____Coolman230: _Escaped? wat? from where? who r u?

___BlackAngel5: _escaped from the school! and im maya! cat girl

_____Coolman230: _oh.

_BlackAngel5: R u single?_

_____Coolman230: ...y?..._

_BlackAngel5: cuz_

_____Coolman230: cuz y?_

___BlackAngel5: cuz fang said he wasnt_

_________Coolman230: _ummm... i g2g

_______BlackAngel5: _fine.

**___Coolman230 has signed off_**

I closed the laptop and looked out over the pack (plus Fang) again.

"I met Iggy." I said quietly to myself. Wait until the twins heard about this one.

* * *

**I am soooo sorry for the late chapter. And on a cliffhanger, too. Ahhhh! But to make up for it, I got Fang!**

**Fang: You called me Sewer Boy.**

**Me: Well, you did come out of the sewers. **

**Fang: For half the chapter, I was known as Sewer Boy.**

**Me: It wasn't half. **

**Fang: Sewer Boy.**

**Me: Maya didn't know your name!**

**Fang: But you're the author. You could have _made_ her know.**

**Me: ...**

**Fang: I'm leaving now. And the name is Fang. Not Sewer Boy. Fang.**

**Me: 'Kay, Sewer Boy. I think Fang hates me now...**


	9. Chapter 8: Death by Cookie

**Yeah, I know, I haven't updated in a while. Sorry. But there is good news and bad news. **

**The good news is that I just picked up a Keyboarding class in school, so I can learn to type faster. AND now whenever I wanna go on the computer to work on another chapter, I just tell my parents I need to practice. Bonus!**

**The bad news is that to pick up Keyboarding, I had to lose my only studyhall. So now I'm gonna have a lot more homework. But hey, win some lose some.**

**Don't own Maximum Ride. That would be soooooo awesome, though.**

**I also don't own any brand names that may or may not come up in the chapter. Or anytime else in the story.**

* * *

I was woken from dreams of flying turkeys (the fried kind that you can buy at Thanksgiving, not the live animal) by an annoying beeping noise. I snapped into a sitting position and looked around wildly, hoping I wouldn't find a time bomb. My eyes flashed in all directions. It was still dark out, but I could see just fine. And I didn't see a bomb.

But I did see my laptop, the screen glowing a soft blue even though it was closed. It seemed to be the origin of the beeping. I relaxed and let the adrenalin rush out of my veins before I tiredly opened it. The chat-room was still open from a few nights ago.

_Coolman230: Hello?_

I started to type something in, and saw that I was still logged in as BlackAngel5. Fang's account. I sighed. Oh well. That's what he gets for not logging off.

_BlackAngel5: Iggy?_

_Coolman230: No, not Iggy_

_BlackAngel5: k then who r u?_

_Coolman230: Max. and you are so dead. HOW COULD YOU! _

_BlackAngel5: y? what?_

_Coolman230: o, u know y, fang U R A DEAD MAN! I WILL HUNT U DOWN!_

_BlackAngel5: im not fang. im maya._

There was a pause.

_Coolman230: who?_

_BlackAngel5: maya. ask iggy._

Another pause, where Max was probably asking Iggy.

_Coolman230: oh. sry then. put fang on. dont tell him its me_

_BlackAngel5: cant. fang ran away two nights ago. i think we scared him off..._

_Coolman230: **[word removed] **! y cant i find him!_

_BlackAngel5: ur word got blocked..._

_Coolman230: i no. tats probably best... i just wish i could talk to fang... :(_

_BlackAngel5: did u try calling him?_

_Coolman230: he has a cellphone?_

_BlackAngel5: idk_

There was yet another pause before I got a reply.

_Coolman230: well... i better go then_

_BlackAngel5: k. tell iggy i said hi_

**_Coolman230 has logged off_**

I stared at the screen for a while. Fang hadn't told us much about the Flock in the time he had been traveling with us. And we had pestered him with questions and the twins kept asking if he was single, so he took off in the middle of the night two days ago. Now we were back on our own again, and we didn't have much money left.

I looked at the horizon, and saw that it would be light soon. Then everyone else would wake up and we could continue our journey.

* * *

"When are we going to Mexico?" Yori asked. "I've been craving a burrito for days now!"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Mimi?"

The twin closest to me didn't even look up. "I'm Kiki."

"Kiki?" I corrected myself. Kiki looked at me.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Arizona." She answered, and continued to braid daisies into Yori's fur. Hey, we had to keep ourselves busy _somehow_.

Sky was over in a tree with Mimi, and Koro was filling water bottles at a stream close to the edge of the clearing we had called home for the night. Sky jumped down from her branch gracefully and landed on her feet.

"I'm gonna go see if I can find some berries or nuts or something." She said. "I'm starving."

"Look around for any wild strawberries," Mimi and Kiki said at the same time. "We love those!"

Sky nodded and walked into the forest. I laid back onto the cool grass and watched the clouds float by. Pretty soon, we'd be on our way to Mexico and the world of Spanish-speaking people and tacos.

* * *

Sky was looking up at the branches, so she didn't notice the house right away. She was looking for a walnut tree. They were in season right now. She knew because she had seen some a few days ago, when they were in a different state. Maybe they didn't grow here. Maybe-

_slam!_

Sky's head shot up in time to see she had come to a clearing in the woods, a different one from the one the pack was staying in. And in the center of the clearing was a house. The slam had been the screen door closing behind a middle aged woman. Sky jumped behind a tree. A few branches rustled. And to Sky's horror, the woman turned to face her.

Normally that wouldn't have been too bad. But she had left the windbreaker she used to hide her wings back at camp. With both wings exposed, there really wasn't much she could do if the woman saw her.

A dog ran over to Sky's hiding place, and yipped happily.

_Go away, dog! _Sky thought. But apparently she wasn't a telepath, because the dog didn't go anywhere.

The woman looked at the dog, and her eyes traveled to the tree that hid Sky.

"Max?" she called. "Is that you?"

Sky tensed. The woman thought she was someone else. Probably her son.

The woman stepped closer. "You can come out now. I can see you."

_Crap! _ Sky thought. _What do I do? Run? Fly? Hide? No, not hide. Hiding was not working._

The woman was right next to the tree now. The dog barked and jumped up and down.

"Quiet, Magnolia," The woman said, and the dog quieted down, but still whined at the tree. Sky closed her eyes.

"I said, I can see you." The woman repeated. "Come on out now, I don't bite. Neither does Magnolia."

Sky was so startled when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, that she squealed and jumped up. Her wings extended a bit reflexively.

The woman's eyes went wide.

And Sky said the first thing she could come up with.

"Uh, uh, uh, I'm an angel. From, uh, you know, heaven."

She shook her wings a bit for effect.

The woman put a hand on her hip and opened her mouth to say something. But just then, Mimi burst out of the trees.

"Hey!" She blurted. "Maya said to come check on you, and to tell you that we're leaving-" she saw the woman. Mimi hadn't worn a hat, and her ears were very, very exposed. Very slowly, Mimi lifted her hands to her head and covered her ears. Then she said the first thing that she could think of.

"We're not mutants."

The woman lifted and eyebrow, and Sky looked over at Mimi.

"Really?" Sky asked. Mimi nodded.

"You're hallucinating." Sky added, hoping that just maybe, the woman might leave.

"Or dreaming." Mimi piped. "Whichever works best for you."

Sky smacked her forehead. "Stop helping."

The woman sighed. "Please don't panic. And don't worry, I've seen mutants before."

The two girls paled.

"You're one of _them_!" Sky whispered. Then they both ran, screaming, back into the forest.

* * *

When Sky and Mimi burst out of the forest screaming their heads off, my brain went into overdrive.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"There was a house, and a woman, and, and, a dog, and, and," Mimi gasped out. Kiki, across the clearing, started hyperventilating.

"She's a white-coat!" Sky cried.

"Ok, we're leaving _now_." I said. "Koro, grab the bags, and put a hat on! You too, Mimi."

"I'm Kiki." The girl replied, but she grabbed a hat and threw one to her sister.

"Which way's south?" I asked.

"That way." Kiki pointed in one direction.

"Everyone, head that way!" I called.

"Wait a minute!" A voice called from the trees. We froze. I could hear footsteps coming our way.

"Scatter!" I called. We all disappeared into the forest in different directions. From my position in a large bush, I could see Koro on a branch in a tree that extended over the clearing, and Jaws hiding behind a bush near that same tree. Sky had climbed another tree and jumped out of it, giving her enough momentum to take to the skies. She was somewhere overhead. Mimi and Kiki were in another bush. And I couldn't see where Yori had gone. We were all silent as a woman entered the clearing, breathing hard, suggesting that she had been running.

She looked around the deserted campsite. "I'm not going to hurt you!" She called.

Yeah, like I've never heard that one before.

The woman opened up a bag she had been carrying and pulled something out of it. I prayed it wasn't a gun. Then the most magnificent smell wafted out. She held out a container.

"I made cookies." She said. "From scratch."

Crap. Those smelled _good_! I wondered how long it would be before someone decided to give themselves away for the sake of the cookies.

Apparently not that long.

"I want a cookie." Jaws said, stepping out from behind the bush and into the clearing.

I heard the twins squeal out some "no!"s before clamping a hand on their mouths.

The woman looked curiously at Jaws, apparently having never seen an Eraser before. Or at least recently. Or as a child, like Jaws was.

"What the heck are you doing?" I cried out. I couldn't help it. This has got to be the stupidest thing that boy has ever done! He's gonna get us all killed! Or worse!

"I'm starving and we don't have a clue how long we're going to live, and I wanna have a freaking cookie before I die, okay?" He called back.

Koro lost his grip on his branch and fell out of the tree. He hit the ground right next to Jaws and I heard the breath go out of him. The woman jumped.

That was when Sky flew down. "Hey! You are never going to guess who I just met!"

The twins jumped up. "The Jonas Brothers?" They squealed in unison. Sky shook her head and the twins deflated.

"Get back down!" Yori cried out, poking her head out of a bush.

"What the heck?" I cried, standing up. Hey, if we were going down (and at this point, we were), I was going down with my pack.

"I had no idea my cookies were that powerful." The woman muttered.

Just then, in a gust of wind, five more people flew into the clearing. And, yes, I said 'flew.'

"This is Max," Sky said, pointing to the oldest girl. "And that's Angel, The Gassman, Iggy, and Nudge. They say 'Hi.'"

"OMG!" One of them, Nudge, I think, gasped. "More mutants? Where did you all come from? I mean, I know there were others, but I thought they were all dead. Not that I want you all to be dead, I just didn't know anyone else was out there, you know? And anyway, you all look so tired and stuff. Mmmmm... I smell cookies! Mrs. M, did you make cookies? Oh, those are so good! Ooh, and still warm? Yay! You all just have to try them! And you two, with the orange ears, where did you get those shirts? They are so cute! Do you think they come in my size?-"

"Nudge?"

"-I really hope so. And I love your skirts, too. They go with your eyes!-"

"Nudge?"

"-It would be really cool if we matched. We could totally be, like,-"

"NUDGE!" The tall boy, Iggy, shouted. "Do we have to get back out the duct tape?"

Nudge shut up.

I looked over the group. The little one with white wings and blond hair looked like an angel, but her aura kinda creeped me out. Iggy was probably blind, due to his startling eye color. The Gassman, oh brother. I think I can smell why he's named that. I should probably move upwind. Nudge was obviously the motormouth of the group, and she had a fashion sense just like the twins. Max was probably the leader who-

Wait a minute.

Max.

_The_ Max.

"You're Fang's girlfriend!" I blurted.

Max's head snapped up. "What do you know about Fang? Do I know you?"

"We met on that web-chat thingy last night."

Max thought for a moment. "Maya, right?"

"Maya?" It was Iggy's turn to look up. "From the chat-room? Is Fang still with you?"

"No, sorry." I said shaking my head. "We kinda scared him away a few nights ago."

"Where were you when you split up and which direction did he go?" Max demanded.

"Uhh..." I thought for a moment. Then I grabbed the arm of the closest twin. "Kiki?"

"Mimi." She corrected. "We were in south-west Colorado. Donno which way he went."

"You two need name tags." I muttered.

"Southwest Colorado." Max was talking to herself. "That's not too far away. He couldn't have gone far."

"Well," Sky had walked over. "In my experience, which isn't very much, you can fly pretty far and pretty fast in good weather. Plus, we don't know which direction he was heading. And it's been two days. Sorry, but your boyfriend's gone."

Max said some very unladylike swearwords and punched a tree. Then she yelped and held her hand.

"Stupid tree!" She cursed. "Stupid splinters!"

Mrs. M hurried over at the sound of Max's cussing. "Come on, lets get you inside." She said, placing a hand on Max's shoulder. Then she turned to me and my pack. "And we'll fill you all in."

* * *

An hour later, we were all sprawled out across Dr. M's lawn munching on homemade cookies and just about anything else we could find in her cupboard. I won't spell out everything her and the flock told us, since if your reading this right now, you've also probably read their bestselling book series (Book series! Wow, I _really_ need to spend more time in society).

And then, after some quick introductions and exchanging survival stories (Their lives make ours look like school children's!), we were just hanging out and enjoying the day. Which felt soooo incredibly nice.

"So," I heard Koro say to Iggy. "You can't see, but you can feel colors?"

"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?" He answered.

"Oh yeah! Hey, open your mouth."

I saw Koro holding a bag of Skittles. I noticed that Gazzy was over next to them, too.

"Why?" Iggy asked suspiciously.

"Come on, Ig." Gazzy said. "Don't worry, it's food. And it won't kill you."

"I don't believe you." Iggy said bluntly.

"I'll vouch for them." I called over. "It's edible, and it's not gross or anything."

"What is it then?" He asked.

"Candy."

"Fine." Iggy opened his mouth. Koro poured in some Skittles.

Iggy chewed and his pale eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Gazzy laughed. "This brings a whole new meaning to 'Taste the Rainbow!'"

Iggy nodded. "So... colorful!" he muttered through a full mouth.

I looked up into the bright blue sky just in time to see a winged shadow cross over the sun. Now that we weren't running away, for the moment at least, Sky was taking all the time she could to learn how to fly better. She was up there right now with Max.

Mimi and Kiki were over with Nudge talking about fashion and stuff. I thought I caught the word 'noodles.' They were fast friends.

Yori was talking to the flock's flying, talking dog named Total and his, um, wife, Akila. I think she was happy to be with another mutant who looked like an animal.

I looked over at Jaws. After the whole initial 'Holy crap he's an Eraser!' reactions with the flock, he had fit in quite nicely. He was currently guarding the newest batch of cookies and talking to the other boys.

I was just lying in the soft green grass and petting Magnolia while the sun warmed us both. My mind drifted. I thought about fish for some reason. Must be the cat in me, but I love fish. Especially sushi. I remember one time when we had stopped at a sushi restaurant back in New York. It had smelled so nice I had finally convinced everyone else to go. Yori had dared Koro to eat half a tablespoon of wasabi, and he had ended up running out of the shop screaming for water while the rest of us laughed and chased him. Jaws had tried some of the sushi, which, by the way, is just raw fish with rice and sometimes seaweed and veggies, and almost puked. Ever since, he has been disgusted by the thought of raw fish.

But right now, I could really go for some. I absently looked over at Jaws again, and he was making a face at me. Seeing me turn to him, he had quickly looked away.

But not soon enough.

"Jaws?" I called over.

"What?" He called back.

I pictured a piece of sushi, and Jaws' eye twitched, just slightly.

"Alright," I called out, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Who's the mind reader?"

Nudge pointed. "Angel. How'd you know that? Are you a physic too?"

I ignored her and gave Jaws a look.

_Quit invading people's minds or you will be the one eating wasabi._ I thought at him. Jaws nodded and quickly looked away.

I sighed quietly to myself and let my body gently lay back down, even though I was probably going to get a lot of redish-brown dust in my hair.

"I'm home!" Called a young voice.

Without sitting back up, I looked over. A young girl was following Dr. M. She smiled brightly when she saw us.

"Everyone, this is my other daughter, Ella." Dr. M said. "Ella, meet the pack."

We all smiled and waved. Max and Sky flew down to greet Ella.

Feeling the warm sun on my face, I closed my eyes. For the moment, my family was safe and comfortable.

Too bad moments like this never last.

* * *

**Yup. How many of you hate me right now? **

**BTW, the Skittles thing was Lilac Rose6's idea. It just fit so well in the context of this story that I decided to put it in.**

**And also, just in case you didn't pick this up, Dr. M is Dr. Martinez. I just don't feel like spelling out her entire name.**

**I will try my best to update faster. But just so you know, there are only, like, two chapters left after this one. **


	10. Chapter 9: Finding Your Destiny

**Hello again, my few, loyal readers! **

** I know that Dylan should be in here somewhere, but I just don't like him, so no Dylan. Maybe he's off with Jeb or was eaten by a pack of wild boars or is currently dying in a hole with his wings bound or something.**

**And just as a warning, there is going to be some blood and gore this chapter, so prepare yourself. But before that is going to be so nice and happy and conflict-free that you may want to stop reading. But don't. The gore and horror and possibly the one thing no one would ever dare to do to a major character of the Maximum Ride series will happen soon. So, be warned. I'll try to keep the gore to a minimum, but I must do as I need to. **

**Anywho, I am back, and this time, I bring with me a hot dog! **

**Hot dog: Hey, what's up?**

**Me: HOLY [insert your choice of swear word here]! YOU CAN TALK?**

**Hot dog: Yeah, can't you?**

**Me: But, but, but you don't have a mouth!**

**Hot dog: You really don't know that for sure.**

**Me: I really don't know that for sure.**

**Hot dog: You want to give me ketchup.**

**Me: I want to give you ketchup.**

**Hot dog: You don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Me: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Hot dog: You don't own Destiny or Fate.**

**Me: I don't own Destiny or Fate. Lilac Rose6 does. But she said I could borrow them for this chapter. Even though they're not really in it. Oh, you'll see what I mean. **

**Hot dog: You will stop talking now. **

**Me: I will stop talking n- oops. I mean, uh, *silent***

**Hot dog: That's better.**

* * *

The wind flowed through Sky's wings, making the feathers flutter. The bright, Arizona sun warmed her from above. Below her, her pack was safe and comfortable. Around her, more bird-kids flew. It was so wonderful, it was like a dream. The feeling of flying and just being so _free_ was amazing. After all those long years in a lab, not knowing if she would survive another day, worrying about her sister, who had escaped, thinking about her wings but being stuck to the ground, wondering what would happen to her next...

It had been horrible. Beyond horrible.

Sky shook her head. She couldn't think about such terrible things right now. Because right now, she just wanted to enjoy the feel of freedom and excitement as she flew.

But her thoughts still wandered. Sky looked down at the ground and the little people running around. She thought about Maya and the rest of her pack. On the ground, she felt weird. It was hard to explain and she could never explain it to anyone, but she was made to fly. Made for the air. So when she was on the ground, it felt almost like she was back in a cage. Sure, there were no more experimentations and she had a family now, but still. The air was her home. And without it, she was lost.

The worst days of her life had been those before she had learned to fly. Maya had gotten her out of the School, but she she had always felt like something was missing. That had been the time when true freedom had been so close, but still unreachable. When she could watch the birds, but her own wings felt useless against her back. The School had been hard, but being so close to freedom and knowing no one else could feel her pain, it was truly horrible.

But now, in this one moment in time, freedom felt so good. And she never wanted to let it go.

Even if she landed, she could fly again, any time she wanted. It was her gift, her wings, her freedom.

It was good to be free.

* * *

I watched the sky from the ground. At the moment, me and the twins were discussing which black dot with wings in the sky was who (whom?).

"That one, right there, next to that ice-cream shaped cloud, I think that's Gazzy." Mimi said.

"No, it has to be Iggy. It's too big." I said.

"It doesn't matter how big it is-" Mimi said.

"-if they're in the sky." Kiki continued.

"It could just mean that they're closer to the ground." They finished at the same time.

"Whoa." Gazzy said, walking over from the house. He nodded toward the twins. "How do you tell those two apart?"

"We don't." I said bluntly. "We guess, and usually, we're wrong. At one point I gave them necklaces with their initials on them, but they lost them a while ago. And to be truthful, at this point, I think Mi 'n Ki are just toying with us. They probably don't even know who's name is whose."

Mimi and Kiki smiled sweetly, but there was a hint of something mischievous in their eyes.

Just then, something in my brain went 'Click!' at that moment, and I turned toward Gazzy.

"Ah ha!" I shouted, turning back to the twins. "Told you it was Iggy!"

Gazzy looked up. "That one by the cloud that looks like an ice-cream?"

"I think it looks more like a hippo in a tutu doing a split, but yeah." I said.

"That's Max." He said. "The one by the sun is Iggy."

"How can you tell?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"I don't. I guess." He turned and walked away.

The twins and I stared at each other for a moment.

"Well," I said. "I still think it's Iggy."

* * *

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the Avian Americans landed.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Nudge started. "I saw this really cool looking clearing in the woods over that way," she pointed, "and I thought, 'OMG! That is like the coolest looking place ever! We should, like, totally have a picnic there!' 'Cuz, it really is awesome. There was this little stream that went through it and I thought I saw one of those tiny waterfalls and lots of flowers and stuff! So, can we have lunch there! Come on, it would be amazing!"

The twins perked up. "Yeah yeah yeah! We should!"

Everyone turned to Max.

"If mom says it's okay." She said.

"I don't see why not." Dr. M said. "I'll go grab the baskets."

Everyone cheered.

I have to say, I really admired Max. She was the perfect leader. Gentle when needed, strong when not. Able to make quick decisions that could save everybody's butts. But still able to have a good time once in a while. Someone it was easy to look up to.

Sky grabbed my arm. "Come on. We're on watermelon duty."

And with that, just about everyone ran around grabbing stuff for the picnic. I saw Gazzy grab th phone and start ordering a pizza (or twenty) and Angel making lemonade. Jaws, Iggy, and Koro had grabbed some potatoes and were trying to mash them. Nudge and the twins were were working on what looked like macaroni and cheese. Max and Dr. M went inside to start on another batch of cookies.

It was going to be a good picnic.

* * *

Nudge was right. The clearing was pretty awesome.

The grass was soft and the trees provided enough shade to keep it from being uncomfortably hot. A small stream ran along the tree line, babbling cheerfully.

Everyone sat around on a blanket that was spread across the ground. Watermelon and pizza and other foods were passed around and we all stuffed our faces. Laughter was everywhere. So it came as a complete shock when the first gunshot was heard.

The bang rang through the surrounding trees, echoing. We all sprang to our feet and ducked for cover. Yori grew to the size of a lion and roared. She took off into the forest. Koro ran after her. Everyone was screaming and panicking. Memories that surfaced, of Sky's form crumpling in the sky at the same sound I heard now. I spun around and saw my sister take to the sky. I breathed a quick sigh of relief. She was alright.

Most of the Flock followed Sky, heading out of range of the shots that still rang out. I jumped into a tree and tried to make sense of the mess.

I could see Koro and Yori running after someone, or something, in a dark brown cape to the west.

I jumped back down from the tree and started trying to get everyone organized.

I found Jaws and got him to go and try to calm Mimi and Kiki down, who were freaking out.

Total was also freaking out. He was running in circles screaming his head off. Akila howled.

Max was shouting out orders.

There is nothing worse than being a place that feels so save and secure, and then having that sense of security shattered in a single gunshot.

After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, everyone calmed down enough for me to count heads. Everyone was here except for Koro, Yori, and the bird-kids who had flown the coop. My ears pricked as I heard someone running through the underbrush of the forest towards us. I turned in that direction in time to see Yori, with Koro riding her like a horse, hurry back into the clearing.

Koro jumped down and Yori shrunk back to her regular size.

"We lost him." Koro said. He pointed into the forest. "He was running that way."

"Didn't get a good look at his face," Yori added, sounding a little winded. "But there was only one."

The parts of the flock that had taken to the sky landed. Dr. M looked everyone over quickly.

"Anyone hurt?" She asked. "No bullet wounds, no broken bones, no-"

She fell silent when Max hit the ground with a dull thud.

"Max!" I couldn't tell who screamed it first, but soon the cry was taken up by anyone who could get past the shocked lump in their throat.

Dr. Martinez fell to her knees beside her oldest daughter and gently turned her over so Max was lying on her back. I thought I heard her whispering something like, "Not Max. Oh, please God no, not Max."

I heard someone gasp. It might have been me.

Blood oozed out of a hole in Max's lower chest. The girl herself was unnaturally pale and looked horrible. Dr. M tore Max's shirt around the bullet hole, going into doctor-mode.

"Nudge! Angel!" She commanded. "Go back to the house and get my supplies. Look for a red bag. Ella, go with them. Iggy, Gazzy, I'm going to need water and blankets. Maya-"

Max started coughing, and I saw blood spray out of her mouth. Mimi and Kiki fainted.

"Not good, not good." Dr. M muttered. "She's bleeding internally. Bullet must have grazed her lung or something."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jaws kneeling by the twins, fanning them like in movies, trying to wake them back up. Koro had guided a horrified Yori away.

The red pool around Max was growing. The injured bird-girl started shaking violently.

"No, no," Dr. M was starting to sound desperate. "She's loosing too much blood. Going into shock."

I knew a little bit of Bird-People's body structures, my sister being one of them. So I knew that the average Avian American's heart beat faster than a human's, pumping more blood. That was good when flying and working hard, since it got tons more oxygen to the muscles and brain, but bad in times like this, since it pumped blood out of the body faster. All that blood was currently soaking Max's clothes and into the dirt around her, until the ground was so saturated the red liquid only pooled at its surface.

I was starting to feel sick.

Sky had been standing silently beside me the entire time. Now, she grabbed my arm and led me away.

"I have to tell you something." Sky said quietly.

Something was bothering her. I could tell. I waited quietly for my sister to continue.

"When I was still at the School, after you escaped," Sky paused. I didn't blame her. Just the mention of that horrible place surfaced memories that I didn't like to bring up. And Sky had been there much longer than me.

When she had recovered, Sky continued. "After that, I met this girl named Destiny. She was a bird-girl like me. She could tell what a person was put on Earth to do. Their destiny."

"So she could see the future?" I asked.

"No, that was her sister, Fate." Sky explained. **[A/N: sorry, I just _had_ to put that in.]** "Destiny could see what you were meant to do. What you're supposed to, not what you are going to do."

"Ok, I think I get it." I said. "But where are you going with this?"

Sky took a deep breath. "Destiny told me that I was going to save someone who was going to save the world, but that it would cost me, and I would never be the same again. And Max is going to save the world."

I was still thinking about that one thing she had said. _Cost her? Cost her what?_

I looked back toward the clearing we had just come from. The girls were back with the medical kit, and Dr. M was trying to stop Max's bleeding. Even from this distance, I could tell it wasn't working. Nudge, Angel, and Ella were huddled together, crying. They could read Dr. Martinez' face just as well as I could. Max wasn't going to make it.

_How did such a perfect, beautiful day turn to this? _I wondered.

I shook my head. "How do you know Max is going to save the world. Save it from what?" **[A/N: the pack never really heard that Max was gonna save the world. They haven't been in society much. Or read the books.]**

"I don't know from what. But I just know that she's the one I'm supposed to save."

"How?"

"Because I just do." Sky said. "Because it's my destiny."

"What about the whole costing you thing?" I added.

"I don't know, OK?" Sky shot back. "I don't ever know what I'm going to do. I just know that I'm supposed to. This is something I have to do."

Sky's bright blue eyes met mine. "Please, you have to trust me."

I dropped my head, defeated. "Just be careful, 'kay?"

Sky smiled, a small, sad smile.

And we walked back to the clearing.

Iggy and Gazzy were back now, too. Gazzy, trying not to cry, held an armful of blankets and Iggy held a pitcher of water.

"What's going on?" I heard Iggy whisper.

"You really don't want to know." Gazzy said between gasps.

"This is all my fault." Nudge sobbed. "I wanted to have a picnic in the woods."

Ella tried to comfort her.

They both broke down into sobs.

I looked at my sister, wondering what was going through her head.

I didn't know it was a memory of years ago, in a dark room behind the bars of a dog crate.

I tore my eyes from my sister to look over my pack. Koro came to stand by me. Yori clung close to his leg. Jaws finally managed to get Mimi and Kiki to wake up. Mimi sat up moaning, took one look at Max, screamed, and both her and Kiki passed out again. Jaws sighed and turned them away from the bloody mess before trying to wake them up again.

Sky took a few steps forward.

Dr. M looked up, her face streaked with tears. "I-" she stopped when her voice broke. When she could get past the lump in her throat, the veterinarian continued. "I don't have the right equipment. And there's not enough time to get to a hospital."

I heard sobs and gasps from around the group.

Sky stepped forward until she was next to Max. I saw Angel collapse to the ground next to her leader. Nudge followed her example. Then Ella. Pretty soon, the entire flock surrounded Max.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." Angel whispered. "Max has to save the world. She can't die yet."

Sky knelt down and placed a hand on the bullet hole. Max's breaths now were shallow and weak.

I watched my sister close her eyes. Both hands were resting on the wound now.

I didn't think that Sky could heal others. We'd tried that once, when one of the twins had gotten a nasty scratch from a blackberry bush (note to self: blackberries taste good, but bite back) and nothing had happened.

Max coughed again and a dribble of blood ran down her chin.

Sky looked strained. She was pushing herself.

And I knew something was happening when the violent shakes that had wracked Max's body stopped.

For a moment, in my mind's eye, I saw everything that had brought us to this single point. My escaping let me learn about the world. Sky's not escaping gave her the power to heal. Jaws, who we met while breaking out, saved us from Eraser-Bots in New York. Mimi and Kiki led us here. Koro and Yori scared away the assassin. I had gone back for my sister.

All the little choices, all the little chance encounters came rushing to me at once. All those little things that led Sky here to save Max.

Sky's destiny was to save Max. Mine and the rest of the pack's was to get her here, to this one moment in time.

I was so deep in these thoughts that I hardly noticed when the first feather fell.

I didn't notice it right away. Sky looked like she was in pain, but Max looked like she was in less. My eyes were glued to them.

Dr. M walked back over. She watched Sky work, her hands clutching the sweatshirt Max had worn earlier until it had gotten too warm. I felt Koro take my hand, and I looked to him for support. He smiled sadly. Yori rubbed up against my leg.

"It'll be alright," she whispered. "I know it."

Another feather fell. This time, my eyes followed it as it floated to the ground.

Mimi and Kiki had woken up again, and had somehow managed to stay awake. Jaws herded them over to where our pack was forming.

Two feathers fell. I watched them land on the steadily growing pile. But even then I didn't really comprehend what I was seeing.

Nudge walked over to the twins. The three (two? How many are the twins?) of them had really bonded during our time here. They comforted each other.

Feathers were scattered all over the ground. The wind blew them across the clearing.

Iggy and Ella came over next. Then Gazzy and Angel. We all stood around a dying girl and another who might save her.

I hadn't realized we had been slowly stepping forward until one of my bare feet stepped on a feather.

That was when I really noticed that something was off.

Sky's wings had begun to turn black.

Where the feathers had fallen enough to show the skin underneath, it was black as frostbite. The color of something dead.

My hands covered my mouth and muffled my gasp of horror.

Sky's face was contorted in pain, her hands soaked red with blood. Feathers fell from her wings like a light rain-shower.

But Max's face had gained back some of its color and her breathing didn't seem as labored as before.

Sky was the one who looked pale. The one who's breath came in quick little gasps.

Max coughed again, and opened her eyes.

The flock cheered and practically jumped on her.

Sky fell backwards, unconscious even before Max's eyes had opened. Koro caught her, and the last few feathers still clinging to her shriveled, black wings fell.

* * *

**And yet another cliffhanger. But good news! There is only one more chapter left! So all questions will be answered then. Questions like...**

**Is Sky dead?**

**Is Max a zombie?**

**Did the flock kill Max when they dog-piled her?**

**Why was there a talking hot dog?**

**Me: Anywho, intense chapter. But I did finally get rid of the talking, mind-controlling hot dog.**

**Hot dog: no you didn't.**

**Me: YES I DID!**

**Hot dog: no you didn't.**

**Me: no I didn't. Wow, you are worse than Angel!**

**Hot dog: Yes I am. **

**Me: Well, maybe I can get rid of him before I post the next chapter. Speaking of which, I am really, really sorry about how long its been since I posted, but I have been sick and have had work overload! Two big projects for English and social studies, a science contest (I signed up for three events!), NYSSMA (a band thing), piano (my teacher is really strict), personal life (Me:leave me alone already, little sis! Little sis: No!), posting art (I has a deviantart account. Same username. Check it out sometime.), and much more that I won't bore you anymore with.**

**Me: So please review, **

**Hot dog: bring ketchup!**

**Me: bring ketchup, and- hey! Stop doing that!**

**Hot dog: The magical, talking, mind-controlling hot dog commands you to review!**

**Me: You're magical now? Sweet.**


	11. Epilogue

**Me: well, I ate the hot dog!**

**Hot dog: No you didn't!**

**Me: yeah, but I broke your mind control after a few days.**

**Hot dog: I'm still trying to figure out how you did that.**

**Me: I watched mind-corroding television 'til my brain exploded. You know, shows like Invader Zim that are so awesomely messed up that they drive you insane.**

**Hot dog: wow. Well, you did it too late!**

**Me: In case you're wondering what the hot dog is talking about, he's currently sitting in my hot tub filled with ketchup with his friends, hamburgers and French fries. **

**French fry: J'aime ce spa.**

**Me: Apparently French fries only speak in French. I have no idea what they are saying.**

**French fry: qui est cette personne bizarre?**

**Me: *gets out a French/English dictionary* Hey!**

**French fry: personne ne possède ici Maximum Ride.**

**Me: Ok, I can get this, give me a moment, *flips through dictionary* "no one here owns Maximum Ride"**

**Hamburger: I want a pickle.**

**Me: not gonna happen.**

**Hamburger: You will give me a pickle.**

**Me: Mind control doesn't work anymore! Ha! Anyway, hope you enjoy this next chapter! **

* * *

_The world is blurry and dark. I can't see straight. Weird images float through my mind._

_Ok, try to sort through the mess. Think simple, easy thoughts. I have a name. What was it?_

_Sky._

_Someone gave it to me._

_My sister._

_And I named her..._

_Maya._

_Yeah, good so far. Man, my head hurt. What happened?_

_Blurry images and sounds filled my mind, making my head pound. Ok, ok, baby steps. Think about simple thoughts. I'll work my way up to the big stuff._

_What else do I remember?_

_Blue. And white fluffy clouds. The feeling of freedom._

_Something sweet and warm in my mouth. Chewy, chocolaty, moist..._

_Cookies. I remember cookies._

_Why do I remember cookies?_

_My head's starting to feel a little better. What is the last thing I remember?_

_Watermelon, laughing, juice dripping down Maya's chin..._

_Bang, bang!_

_Oh, no, what happened next? What was that noise? I know its important!_

_Blue again. With more clouds. I'm in the sky._

_Sky. My name. It has two meanings: My name. And the blue sky, my freedom, my home._

_Other people are there, too. Kids with wings. So I have wings._

_Wings. Brown. Feathery. Yeah, I have wings. I like my wings._

_But I way flying. With others. While stuff happened below me._

_Yes, this is good. I'm remembering now. What happens next?_

_People running and screaming. I know them._

_My pack. My family. But they can't fly like me. So who's in the sky with me?_

_The flock. Other bird kids._

_But what was going on on the ground?_

_Aww no, my head's hurting again._

_But what happened next? What were those bangs? Why does my head hurt?_

_Green grass. I landed. And then-_

_Red._

_On the ground. On my hands. _

_Why's it so red? What happened?_

_Blood. _

_Blood?_

_Blood!_

_I have to do something!_

_But I don't know what!_

_What happened? _

_Why can't I think straight?_

_It's still red._

_All red._

_Everything's red!_

_My head hurts._

_My back hurts._

_My body hurts._

_There's a bright light. It's red, too! No, wait, it's white. My eye lids are red. The light just looks red because I'm seeing it through my eyelids. My eyes are closed. If I open my eyes, the light'll be white._

_I don't want to see red anymore!_

My eyes opened.

I hear people whispering. They start talking louder, more excited. I can't understand them. My head still hurts.

What happen-

And all of the lost memories came rushing back to me.

"Sky's awake!"

Someone keeps saying that. I can make out the words now.

I can hear people rushing around. Footsteps.

And I can see more than just the bright, white light now.

But the light isn't really white. It's dull yellow. A light bulb in a lamp.

I can also see caramel colored walls. Wooden furniture. A house. Dr. Martinez's?

I'm in a bed. Oh, it's so soft. I haven't slept in a real bed since... ever.

Maya's face fills my line of vision.

"Sky!" she shouted.

I flinched. Too loud. Still had a headache.

"Max?" I managed to croak.

"She's fine." Maya said. "Perfectly. Not even a scar to show."

I smiled. Then flinched again.

"My head hurts." I moaned, hating the whiny tone in my voice. "How come my head hurts so much?"

"You have a minor concussion." Maya said.

"...why?"

"Because Koro dropped you on your head when he was bringing you back to the house."

"Seriously?"

"Naw." Maya smiled. "Dr. M says it has to do with overusing your powers. Speaking of Dr. M, I'll go get her and tell her your awake."

* * *

"I don't wanna be mean, but it's just so... strange." Yori whispered.

"I know what you mean." Koro said. "But someone should really say something."

"You'd really think she'd notice the frame around the mirror." Total added. Akila barked in agreement.

"I just feel so bad for her." Yori muttered.

"Can't she tell the difference?" Total asked, flabbergasted.

"Well, Mi 'n Ki _are_ identical twins." Koro pointed out.

Just then, Maya burst into the room. "Sky's awake!" She shouted. Then something caught her eye.

"What's with her?" She asked, pointing.

Koro shrugged. "I'm not really sure."

"Huh." Maya shook her head in disbelief. "Think she's faking?"

"No." Yori said. "A few minutes ago she tried to give it her cookie."

"Wow." Maya said. "But anyway, you guys seen Dr. M?"

"Kitchen."

"'Kay, thanks."

She ran toward the kitchen.

Koro stared again at the sight ahead of them. "It's times like this you really have to wonder what's going on in that girl's head."

"What do you think's gonna happen when Kiki gets here?"

The four shrugged and stared at each other in silence.

* * *

Koro and Yori got back to my room before Maya. I smiled at them.

"Hey," I said quietly.

Koro smiled back. "Glad to see you're finally awake."

"'Finally?'" I asked. "How long was I out?"

"Only a day or two," Yori said.

"'Only?'"

Jaws walked in with Max. "Hey there, Sleeping Beauty!"

"Who?"

"I don't know, but Dr. M called Max that after she slept in until, like, three in the afternoon."

I turned my attention to Max. "You're okay?"

"Yeah, fine." She said, staring at the bed strangely. I tried to look over my shoulder to where her eyes were focused, but didn't see anything. I was just propped up on the bed with a bunch of pillows.

Maya jumped back into the room. "I found Dr. M. And she made cookies!" She held up a steaming batch. Jaws snatched up several.

"Mmmm..." He moaned happily, stuffing the cookies in his face. "I will never get tired of these!"

I smiled and reached out to grab one. I noticed how crowded the room was getting when Ella and Dr. Martinez walked in.

"How do you feel?" Dr. M asked.

I smiled again. "Well, my headache's going away."

"That's good," Dr. M said, shining a light into my eyes, careful not to make it too doctor-ly. She knew that I had a thing about hospitals. And doctors. And, well, you read the books. You know what I mean.

"You seem to be making a very good recovery." She added, stepping away.

Maya squealed and hugged me. "I was so worried!"

The rest of the pack squeezed around the bed. I smiled. Then I noticed that someone was missing.

"Where are the twins?" I asked.

They all gave each other weird looks.

"In the living room." Maya finally said.

"Okay... so what's up with the looks?" I asked.

* * *

Mimi was in the living room, standing in front of a mirror, talking to her reflection.

"I hear that Sky's feeling better, Kiki!" She told the reflection.

Yes, Mimi thought that her reflection was her twin sister.

* * *

"Wow." I said. "That's a little crazy, even for Mimi."

Everyone nodded.

"So, when am I gonna be back up and flyin' again?" I asked cheerfully.

Silence.

My eyes slid over the group. Ella, who wouldn't meat my eyes, even though we had begun to become great friends. Maya, who looked at me with pity. Max, who-

was wearing a jacket.

That didn't make any sense. All of the kids here let out their tails, wings, and ears. There was no one around to see. And it couldn't be that something had happened. Maya's ears were exposed. So why was Max covering her wings?

I became painfully aware of bandages across my chest, under the giant t-shirt I was wearing.

And over my back.

Max had been looking at me strangely before.

And now she was covering her wings.

In all the excitement, I hadn't really noticed how much my back was hurting, right above the shoulder blades, where my wings-

Oh no.

Dr. M saw my expression and shook her head sadly.

"They were dead," she said quietly. "I had to amputate."

I buried my head in my covers.

It wasn't true. It couldn't be true! But, I couldn't feel them.

"But I can heal!" I shouted. They couldn't be gone!

Maya carefully took my hand and held it palm-up. I stared at it. At first, I didn't comprehend what I was seeing. I had a scratch on my hand, probably from when I had fallen after healing Max. Koro had caught me, but my arm had flown out and hit a stick or rock or something. But it didn't hurt or anything. Just a little scratch. Then it hit me.

I have a scratch.

And it wasn't healing.

Destiny's words rang in my head...

"It'll cost you, and you won't like it."

I could heal. I couldn't bring my wings back!

Dr. M shook her head apologetically.

I felt Maya sit down on the bed next to me and put her arms around me. I leaned into her, tears forming in my eyes.

I had saved Max, but it had cost me.

No more open skies.

No more freedom.

No more wings.

* * *

What is a bird-girl with no wings?

* * *

"Stop copying me already!" Mimi shouted at her reflection.

Gazzy passed through the room.

"Gazzy!" Mimi called out. "Tell Kiki to stop copying me!"

"Uhh..." He looked back at the girl. Then at the mirror. He took off running in the other direction.

Mimi pouted and turned back to her reflection.

"-not that, I just really think you should talk to her." Gazzy' voice floated in from the doorway. A few seconds later, he stepped back into the room with the real Kiki in tow.

"Mimi?" Kiki said. "What are you doing?"

Mimi spun around. "Kiki? But how are you-"

She looked at the mirror, where her reflection was still visible, and then back at Kiki, who was off to the side.

"OMG! We are triplets!" She shouted.

Gazzy palmfaced and slowly backed out of the room.

"Triplets? Let me see!" Kiki ran over to Mimi and stood in front of the mirror. Both twins' reflections showed.

"Quadruplets!" They both shouted at the same time.

* * *

It was days before I finally got out of bed, and it was the allure of a hot shower that finally did it.

Max and the flock keep their wings hidden around me. I guess it helps a little, but not really. There are other things that remind me. I hear a bird call at night, and it hurts. I see a feather poking out of someone's jacket, and it hurts. I see the pity in everyone's eyes, and it hurts.

I don't feel my wings, and it hurts.

The warm feathers on my back used to be so reassuring.

Now I have nothing.

Angel's been avoiding me. She can read minds, so she knows my pain. Feels it. And escapes the only way she can.

The way I can't.

Taking to the skies.

My namesake.

Once so close, but now further than I could imagine.

My back stopped hurting after a few days. Now it only does if I twist weird. But the pain I felt was more mental than physical. Sometimes I wondered if it would fade with time.

And sometimes I tried to fool myself into thinking the answer was 'yes.'

Everyone here kept trying to make me feel better. I've played every board game in Ella's closet at least once. I eat plenty of ice cream and chocolate and chocolate ice cream. I watch funny TV and try to laugh at every bad joke someone comes up with. But it doesn't help.

And I've never felt so alone.

Maya and the others are getting ready to leave Dr. M's. Maya said we were finally going to make it to Mexico. Yori's excited about the tacos.

I just mostly want to be left alone.

Dr. M says that I might be depressed. She says I should try to be more active. But I don't feel like doing anything.

I feel like there's half of me missing.

And sometimes I wonder if I can stand to live like this.

* * *

"We're leaving tomorrow, so make sure we have everything." Maya told Koro and Jaws. Yori was with Sky at the moment. No one thought it was a good idea to leave her alone for too long.

Mimi and Kiki bounced out of the house.

"Gigi and Fifi can come too, right?" They chirped.

Maya frowned. "Who and who?"

"Gigi and Fifi!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Our other twins!" Kiki added.

"We're quadruplets!" They bounced up and down happily.

"Wow." Jaws said in awe. "They still think that... wow."

Maya turned to Koro. "No one told them?"

"I don't think anyone knew what to say." He said. "Plus, no one wanted to hurt their feelings, and they all just looked so happy..."

Maya sighed. "I'm gonna go see Sky. You tell them."

"Why me?"

"'Cause Jaws left while we weren't paying attention and I have to go get Sky."

And Maya turned and ran.

Mimi and Kiki stared, happy and ready, at Koro, waiting for him to answer their question.

Koro sighed. "I need to tell you two something."

"'Kay!" They answered excitedly.

Koro sighed again. Why did he always get stuck with the jobs no one else wanted?

* * *

Sky hadn't brushed her hair in days. So, to say the least, it was messy.

Maya had decided to get Sky to clean up a bit. And Ella was running out of hats.

So now, Sky sat in the grass with Maya sitting behind her. Maya was currently trying to yank a hair brush through her sister's long, tangled hair.

Maya had always loved Sky's hair. It was pale blonde and soft and went all the way down almost to her waist.

In the background, she could hear Mimi and Kiki pouting about the loss of their imaginary sisters, Gigi and Fifi. It still boggled her mind to think that they had actually thought that their reflections were real people. But who knows what goes on in their minds.

Maya was finally able to get the brush through her sister's hair with ease. So she switched to a comb to get out any other knots.

She ran the brush down Sky's hair and felt a bump by her shoulder blades.

"Ow." Sky murmured. "Watch it. I'm still sore."

But Maya frowned. There shouldn't be anything raised still left besides the scar. And the bump had been too bid to be a scar. Was it getting infected?

Worried, she pulled Sky's oversized t-shirt's neck down to get a look at her back.

And gasped.

Out of the scars still marking her sister's back, grew tiny new limbs. The feathers attached to them resembled the soft down of a newly-hatched chick.

Wings.

Tiny, but growing.

But how? The scar was still visible, so Sky still couldn't heal.

Maybe some things were just meant to be.

"Maya?" Sky's quiet voice brought Maya back to reality. "I did what I was supposed to. I saved Max. And I know it was the right thing to do. But now... I just feel so empty. I don't know what I should to do anymore. What am I supposed to do?"

Maya reached out and cupped a tiny brown feather in her hand.

"Reach for the sky," She said quietly. "Because anything's possible."

* * *

**I would like to take this time to thank everyone who cared enough to read my humble story. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I really hope you enjoyed reading it. So thank you for devoting a portion of your life to my story. Please let me know what you thought of it. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I am always working to improve my writing abilities. And feel free to tell me about a story you read or wrote that you think I'd enjoy. **

**Oh, and if you do decide to review, you get a free talking, mind-controlling hot dog. I have a ton of them. *points to ketchup-hot tub full of talking hot dogs***

******So, as a last thought at the end of my final chapter, I would like to say that this is the longest story I have written so far, and am very, very grateful that you took the time to read it and review it.**

******Have a good life, and never be afraid to reach for the sky. Because anything really is possible.**


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